Xenophobia under investigation in brazilian and portuguese academic works available in online repositories¹

Abstract

The objective of the article is to analyze results of quantitative data from academic productions that investigated xenophobia and related topics in the areas of communication sciences and that are available in open access in Brazilian and Portuguese online repositories. It is considered that open access online academic repositories constitute strategic spaces for scientific divulgation to academic communities, as well as to the general public. Xenophobia constitutes one of the greatest contemporary challenges to human rights, promoting exclusions and hierarchies that presuppose the superiority of some people over others. Data collection revealed that xenophobia is not necessarily addressed directly in the articles, dissertations, books and theses collected, and may appear from themes that are related to it.

Keywords
Xenophobia; Migrations; Academic Productions; Online Repositories; Communication

Resumo

O objetivo do artigo é analisar resultados de dados quantitativos de produções acadêmicas que investigaram a xenofobia e temas correlatos nas áreas das ciências da comunicação e que estão disponíveis para consulta aberta em repositórios online brasileiros e portugueses. Considera-se que os repositórios acadêmicos online de acesso aberto constituem espaços estratégicos para divulgação científica às comunidades acadêmicas, assim como para o público em geral. A xenofobia constitui um dos grandes desafios contemporâneos para os direitos humanos, promovendo exclusões e hierarquias que pressupõem superioridade de algumas pessoas relativamente a outras. A coleta de dados revelou que a xenofobia não necessariamente é abordada diretamente nos artigos, dissertações, livros e teses coletados, podendo aparecer a partir de temáticas que lhe são afins.

Palavras-Chave
Xenofobia; Migrações; Produções Acadêmicas; Repositórios Online; Comunicação

Resumen

El objetivo del artículo es analizar resultados de datos cuantitativos de producciones académicas que investigaron la xenofobia y temas relacionados en las áreas de las ciencias de la comunicación y que están disponibles para consulta abierta en repositorios en línea brasileños y portugueses. Se considera que los repositorios académicos en línea de acceso abierto constituyen espacios estratégicos de divulgación científica a las comunidades académicas, así como al público en general. La xenofobia constituye uno de los mayores desafíos contemporáneos a los derechos humanos, promoviendo exclusiones y jerarquías que presuponen la superioridad de unas personas sobre otras. La recolección de datos reveló que la xenofobia no necesariamente es abordada directamente en los artículos, disertaciones, libros y tesis recopilados, pudiendo surgir de temas relacionados con ella.

Palabras clave
Xenofobia; Migraciones; Producciones Académicas; Repositorios Online; Comunicación

Introduction

Considering that xenophobia and related subjects are social, political and cultural phenomena that are within the scope of interest to researchers in the field of Communication Studies, this article proposes a survey on published articles, books, dissertations and theses that address these topics. As it will be discussed in detail in the methodology section, the collected data was found in online open-access repositories from Brazil and Portugal, given the importance of these repositories for archiving and providing access to scientific publications.

Therefore, the objective of this article is to analyze the results of quantitative data obtained from academic works that investigate xenophobia and associated topics in the field of Communication Studies, and which are available for public access in Brazilian and Portuguese online repositories. It is considered that open-access academic repositories available online constitute strategic spaces for science communication both to academic communities and to the public at large (Shintaku; Vidotti, 2016). Moreover, these repositories are recognized as strategic in the fight against predatory publishers and journals (Guimarães; Hayashi, 2023).

Xenophobia is one of the major contemporary challenges to human rights, promoting exclusion and establishing hierarchies that presuppose that some people are superior to others (Albuquerque Jr., 2016; Chelius, 2021). Xenophobic hatred, which fosters various forms of physical and symbolic violence, has intensified in recent decades, in the wake of the rise of far-right politics (Ribeiro; Pereira, 2019) and of Christian fundamentalism movements (Schäffer, 2023), which have both contributed to the growth of migratory flows.

The migration of people within a single country or between countries has diverse characteristics and motivations, the primary ones being forced displacement due to war, persecution and other atrocities. People in these situations are defined as refugees. Under these circumstances, they face hardships ranging from governments that refuse to recognize their refugee status, recurring to the use of specific protection laws, to deaths occurring during migration and scourges that are almost always aggravated by physical and symbolic violence fueled by xenophobic hatred. Migrants are people who voluntarily leave their places of origin for reasons such as studying, finding work, family reunification, desire for better quality of life standards, etc. To be exposed to xenophobic hatred is a common experience for both refugees and migrants, although the intensity of the attacks may be greater for the former, mainly because of their condition of vulnerability, which is caused by the same reasons that forced them to seek refuge as a survival strategy.

Methodology

The search for academic works that investigate the connections between xenophobia and communication processes and products was conducted in online open-access repositories maintained by Brazilian and Portuguese institutions, which were chosen based on level of accessibility and institutional importance. Based on these criteria, the consulted repositories in Brazil were the Portal de Periódicos da Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (Capes) and the digital libraries of Compós (Associação Nacional dos Programas de Pós-Graduação em Comunicação), Intercom (Sociedade Brasileira de Estudos Interdisciplinares da Comunicação) and SBPJor (Associação Brasileira de Pesquisadores em Jornalismo). In Portugal, the consulted repositories were RepositóriUM, the institutional repository for scientific publications of the University of Minho, and the digital library of the Associação Portuguesa de Ciências da Comunicação (Sopcom). The time frame covered publications indexed in these repositories between 2000 and 2022.

Given that this research does not focus on comparing the results obtained for each country, there is, indeed, a discrepancy in the total of consulted repositories, being four in Brazil and two in Portugal. To adopt a comparative approach in this work would be quite problematic for a number of reasons, the most relevant being: 1) while the population of Brazil exceeds 210 million people, in Portugal the population is around 10 million; 2) Brazil has a considerably higher number of universities than Portugal; 3) in Portugal, there is no representative entity for postgraduate programs that maintains a repository of its own, such as Compós does in Brazil; 4) in Portugal, there is no entity with a science-related purpose for a profession within the field of Communication that maintains a repository of its own, such as SBPJor does in Brazil; 5) in Portugal, there is no online repository maintained by a funding agency similar to the repository maintained by Capes. To proceed with a comparative analytical perspective between realities as different as these could lead to misconceptions, such as affirming that there is greater or lesser commitment to conducting research focused on the subject of this article in one country or another, among other potential distortions.

The corpus — which consists of articles, dissertations, theses, and books — was compiled using the native search engines of the repositories and digital libraries, by entering search terms that included xenophobia, migration, migrants, journalism, communication, social media, marketing, among others, also applying gender variations when appropriate. Once the works had been identified, the abstracts and keywords were read, so the works that did not fit into the scope of the research could be discarded. The results are presented in the data analysis section, which was developed after theoretical debates on xenophobia and online open-access repositories.

Xenophobia

A human rights issue on a global scale, xenophobia poses an enormous challenge for governments, international organizations and non-governmental organizations, but above all, it inflicts suffering on millions of people who migrate within and/or out of their native countries. According to the latest data compiled by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), "by June 2025, more than 117.3 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations and events seriously disturbing public order" (Acnur, 2025, online)². The same report indicates that Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, and Syria were the countries with the largest migratory flows in the analyzed period.

Migratory flows, especially when carried out by people in refugee conditions or in search of better and more dignified lives, have led to deaths in shipwrecks involving precarious and often illegal vessels, during the crossing of hazardous environments and susceptible to other forms of violence. Data from the IOM, the United Nations Migration Agency, reveal that

At least 8,565 people died on migration routes worldwide in 2023, making it the deadliest year on record, according to data collected by IOM’s Missing Migrants Project. The 2023 death toll represents a tragic increase of 20% compared to 2022, highlighting the urgent need for action to prevent further loss of life³.

(OIM, online)

Just as diverse as the motivations for forced migration are — war, political persecution, fleeing hunger, unemployment, racism, misogyny, expulsions caused by terrorist movements, religious persecution, homophobia, etc. — there are multiple consequences of displacement in such conditions. These include the possibility of further political, misogynistic, religious and homophobic persecution, racism, hunger, and unemployment, which are all situations that can reoccur in the place of arrival, now with xenophobia acting as an additional aggravating factor. Although it is not possible to claim that all migrants or refugees are victims of xenophobia, it is plausible to affirm that migratory movements, since ancient times, have been at the root of xenophobic hatred, contempt and violence, leaving physical and/or psychological damage in their victims, as well as causing physical and social deaths. It is also worth noting that while migrants are not forced to leave their places of origin and can return at any time, the same cannot be said for refugees, which is why they are protected by international legislation (Acnur, 2019; Pichioni, 2020).

Apparently, xenophobia is easy to understand, if we take it as Durval Muniz de Albuquerque Jr.'s definition does:

The word xenophobia originates from Greek, from the combination of the words xénos [ξένος] (stranger, foreigner) and phobos [φόβος] (fear), meaning fear, rejection, refusal, antipathy, and deep aversion to what is foreign. It implies mistrust and prejudice towards people who are strangers to the land, the environment and the culture to which belongs the person who judges, who observes, who considers themselves to be in their own place. Xenophobia implies a spatial delimitation, a territoriality, a community, which establishes an inside and an outside, an interiority and an exteriority, both material and symbolic, territorial and cultural. This makes those that come from outside one territory or culture be recognized as strangers, people who are refused and rejected with varying degrees of intensity.

(Albuquerque Jr., 2016, p. 9)

But xenophobia is an intricate and complex entanglement of different elements, making it necessary to add to this initial definition a broader set of variables that make the rejection of "the stranger" more extensive: to racism, misogyny, homophobia and religious disputes, we must add cultural and behavioral intolerance and also a series of other factors, which sometimes operate isolated and sometimes operate in amalgamation. Understanding xenophobia, therefore, requires investigating both its potentially universal characteristics and how it manifests in a particular way in each society and across time. It also means recognizing that xenophobia creates exclusionary hierarchies based on assumptions about the humanity of the person who is targeted by hatred and intolerance. And if xenophobia can be understood as a "fear of foreigners," such a feeling has no relation to the categories of diseases classified as phobias, because we learn to be xenophobic as a consequence of the culture in which we are born and raised, where we learn to interact with the different.

Taking a perspective that incorporates notions of identity and alterity, Leticia Calderón Chelius points out that

Xenophobia is the negative response shown by some members of a society to the ones they consider strangers and who they describe as being "the opposite" of what identifies them as a national group; this would not go beyond the anecdotal or the usual practice of comparing ways of life and national folklores. But this is not the case, because xenophobia transcends the simple contrast between "them and us," which can be an element of primary identity, natural to the human condition. Rather, it is the denial of the other, an attempt to diminish personality and self-esteem by exalting alterity and disqualifying the other.

(Chelius, 2021, p. 280-281)

Being a complex phenomenon, xenophobia is not exclusive to foreigners in a particular nation, since it also affects people who are originally from the same country. In Brazil, there is no shortage of hate and intolerance towards indigenous populations, and this is evident across all regions of the country, as well as hatred towards people from the states located in the Northeast Region, who are often identified as any person who was not born in the Southeast and South regions. In Portugal, as indicated by Rosa Cabecinhas (2008), the Romani population, which have inhabited Portuguese territory for five centuries, are targets of persistent xenophobic attacks. Consequently, the fight against xenophobia and its individual and collective consequences is not restricted to the perspective of the foreigner, but it is extended to that of the "outsider," culturally and symbolically understood as anyone who does not originate from the territorial space where xenophobic hatred and intolerance are manifested.

In recent years, xenophobia has escalated as a result of actions by right-wing groups and political parties, some of which are defined as far-right (Gaborit et al, 2020), in the wake of major social and economic crises, as indicated by Jocenilson Ribeiro and Thiago Augusto Carlos Pereira:

Alongside this scenario of contemporary crises, many times directly motivated by conservative discourse, there has been a rise of an intolerant, "extreme" right-wing, a phenomenon also observed in the international landscape – in Europe and North America (USA) –, which has reinforced a wave of anti-immigrant ideology that has manifested itself in many instances of violence against foreigners, black people, Arabs, Africans, Latin Americans, homosexuals, Romani, Syrians, Lebanese, Haitians, indigenous people, etc. In Portuguese and Spanish, this wave of politically motivated violence is referred to as discursos de ódio, or des discours de haine in French, but hate speech in English.

(Ribeiro; Pereira, 2019, p. 35)

In Brazil, former President Jair Bolsonaro spread xenophobic hate speech, as exemplified by his remarks against Chinese people in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, due to the fact that the first confirmed cases were diagnosed in that country. But Jair Bolsonaro also expressed contempt, on more than one occasion, for indigenous people and people from the Northeast Region⁴. In Portugal, deputy André Ventura, leader of the far-right Chega party, has repeatedly attacked Romani people, suggesting that they should be isolated as a measure to combat Covid-19⁵.

On this note, the pandemic caused by the Sars-CoV-2 virus has exacerbated xenophobic manifestations, given its potential to increase migratory flows as a consequence of economic downturns caused by necessary health measures, as well as border closures during the most acute periods of the pandemic and, subsequently, the requirement for proof of vaccination — which signified, during a certain period, a kind of passport that limited the transit of people and imposed restrictions based on the type of vaccine taken and/or based on regions that were classified as high-risk for Covid-19. In this sense, xenophobia is dynamic in its manifestations, incorporating new motivations for hatred and intolerance over time.

Still in the context of the relation between the rise of the far-right globally and the spread of anti-migrant and anti-refugee rhetoric, there are growing concerns about xenophobic incitement coming from fundamentalist Christian groups. Heinrich Wilhelm Schäfer, a German researcher on religion, identified this trend in Donald Trump's administration in the United States:

In short, here the experience of a threat to the Christian nation posed by religious beliefs is processed in such a way that the religious and political legitimacy of the nation's Christianity is unconditionally affirmed and the corresponding imperatives for action are derived. Widespread xenophobia, religion-based nationalism, and religious authoritarianism make this religious right-wing sect a natural ally for the isolationist policies of America First and the autocratic incumbency of the Trump regime.

(Schäffer, 2023, p. 231-232)

Because it involves political, cultural, economic and religious factors, among others, each with its own distinct characteristics, the fight against xenophobia and its related problems is a challenge that is far from being successfully overcome. The difficulties are amplified by the fact that xenophobia is a widespread practice of hatred and intolerance, which means that it is not usually perceived as being relational. In other words, someone who is a victim of xenophobia may themselves practice xenophobia when they consider themselves superior to another person in a different context.

Alongside many other organizations, the media, especially the press, plays a strategic role in publicizing cases of xenophobia and related issues. Indeed, the media often rely on organizations that deal with migration and xenophobia as key agents for obtaining information. So, it is no coincidence that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has been publishing handbooks and guidelines for communicators, journalists, and students on how to deal with issues related to refugees and migrants (Acnur, 2019; Pichioni, 2020). In a publication aimed at these audiences, UNHCR justifies the importance of the handbook of best practices in reporting as follows:

The issue of migration is also transversal by nature. It can be analyzed through the lens of politics, economics, culture, sports, technology, international affairs, education, health, housing, gender issues, among others. Understanding migration is a way of understanding the world based on human elements and the interactions that this mobility makes possible. Because it is such an important factor in the social context, migration needs to be understood as such—by the media, by policymakers, and by society itself. The media plays a key role in highlighting the virtues and challenges generated by migration and its various aspects, and this brief guide aims to contribute to approaches that are empathetic and committed to the facts.

(Acnur, 2019, p. 4)

The media, including the press, are social actors engaged in disputes over meaning and tugs-of-war with other social actors (Carvalho, 2023). Therefore, how the media and other communicators approach topics that are socially controversial, like xenophobia, can be ambiguous, since they can either contribute to overcoming the problem or they can reinforce it by reproducing the dynamics that underpin xenophobic hatred and intolerance. This is also true for digital social media platforms, which increasingly feature incidents of xenophobic hate speech and intolerance (Farah, 2017). In their contradictory, ambiguous and multidimensional nature, the media can either raise awareness of problems and the people affected, or silence them, which has prompted a great deal of research into how media and communication products and processes deal with complex sociocultural phenomena.

Online repositories

Online open-access academic repositories are considered strategic spaces for the dissemination of scientific articles, books, dissertations and theses, both to the academic and scientific communities and to the public at large, thereby contributing to the public communication of science (Shintaku; Vidotti, 2016). The field of Communication Studies, which encompasses research in journalism, cinema, marketing, public relations, the internet, digital cultures, social platforms, and others, has benefited from the possibilities offered by these repositories to expand the audiences that can have access to its academic output.

Public universities, agencies that support research and scientific development, and associations that bring together researchers represent a significant portion of the organizations that create and maintain online open-access repositories. Unlike open-access repositories associated with journals, which only contain articles published by those same journals, online open-access repositories can, through a process of curation and through agreements with various journals and publishers, compile material from a variety of sources, either by providing direct access to this material on their own platforms or by providing links to other sites. Milton Shintaku and Silvana Vidotti consider repositories to be an innovation in science communication:

The open-access movement has greatly impacted science communication, significantly altering established procedures, business models, and other aspects. In this case, open-access journals and repositories have played a prominent role in the dissemination of scientific documentation, in what Harnad et al. (2004) refer to as the gold route and the green route, with articles being published in journals and then preserved by the repositories.

(Shintaku; Vidotti, 2016, p. 62)

For dissertations and theses, repositories offer a chance for public distribution that would not be possible otherwise, allowing works that would be restricted to the university community to reach wider audiences. Books, on the other hand, due to the possibility of being protected by copyright owned by commercial or academic publishing houses, require negotiation processes that are more complex, often requiring large financial investments. In fact, the creation, maintenance and/or expansion of free online repositories has faced serious financial challenges, particularly due to the contingency or the removal of human and economic resources that are necessary to maintain initiatives that require investments in expensive and sophisticated technological infrastructure, human resources training and a series of other challenges.

Besides making academic work available to a wide audience, online repositories are considered strategic in the fight against predatory journals and publishers, which have been proliferating recently (Guimarães; Hayashi, 2023). José Augusto Chaves Guimarães and Maria Cristina Piumbato I. Hayashi (2023) define predatory journals and publishers as those that charge for publishing articles, that publish works that have been previously published in other media, that do not have a credible editorial board, and that do not conduct peer reviews prior to publication. They also point out that there is no consensus in academic and scientific communities regarding an ultimate definition for this phenomenon. That is why terms such as pseudo-journals, deceptive journals, fraudulent journals, and low-quality journals, among others, are also commonly used.

Although it is beyond the scope of this article, it is essential to highlight that the proliferation of predatory journals and publishers feeds on the productivity-driven logic that governs the standards of research institutions, universities and funding agencies nowadays. Therefore, these journals and publishers operate by offering large-scale publishing opportunities, emphasizing quantitative aspects over theoretical, methodological and innovative contributions, as well as other variables that lead to scientific output that meets the rigorous criteria of each field of knowledge. For José Augusto Chaves Guimarães and Maria Cristina Piumbato I. Hayashi, it is necessary to act against the interests of predatory publishers and journals and

In order to address this threat, a joint effort is required from authors (researchers), publishers, academic and research institutions, research funding agencies, and scientific databases to ensure that science communication across a wide range of fields is conducted in an ethical, transparent, and accountable manner.

(Guimarães; Hayashi, 2023, p. 14)

Although they are not necessarily responsible for publishing original articles and books, online open-access repositories effectively contribute to reaching larger audiences while also assisting in the fight against predatory scientific publishing practices.

Analysis results

The most significant results of the research conducted in online open-access repositories are analyzed below, with brief comments on the data obtained.

Chart 1
Total number of published works per year⁶

The early years of the 21st century saw less research into migration, refugees, xenophobia, and related topics, with an increase, albeit fluctuating, from the second half of that first decade onwards, indicating a trend towards a greater number of published works observed in the second decade. There is a remarkable increase in the number of indexes in the second decade of the studied period, coinciding with the global rise of parties and politicians associated with the extreme-right, as well as an intensification of religious practices associated with the fundamentalist Christianity, which, as discussed in the previous theoretical section, have both been responsible for the aggravation of xenophobia and related issues. There is also the possibility that the restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic may have worsened the global situation of xenophobia and related issues, leading to a higher number of academic works on these subjects from 2020 onwards.

Local political conflicts and challenges, such as those in Syria, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Haiti, and other countries, have greatly contributed to raising awareness of issues related to migration, xenophobia, refugees, and related topics. This explains the significant increase in index numbers in 2020, with an apparent downward trend starting in 2021. However, it is impossible to say for certain that the number of published works has actually decreased in 2021 and 2022, since there may be a hiatus preceding the publication of articles and books and the defenses of dissertations and theses, a time gap before they become available in online repositories, given the complexities involved in the processes of curation and approval for including them in the databases.

Chart 2
Total number of published works by country⁷

Of the 291 published works indexed in online open-access repositories on migration, refugees, xenophobia, and related topics that were identified in this study, 244 are located in Brazilian databases, while 47 are located in Portuguese databases. As explained in the methodology section, there was no intention of promoting a comparative analysis, given the notable differences between both countries in terms of population size, number of universities and/or research institutions, among other distinctions. It is important to emphasize that the works indexed in the repositories are not produced exclusively by people from the countries in question. So, it is possible that Portuguese works are indexed in Brazilian repositories and vice versa, although the research did not focus on investigating this particular dynamic.

Chart 3
Total number of published works by repository⁸

The most relevant data on the totals indexed by each repository lies in the prominence of the Portal de Periódicos da Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (Capes), which alone accounts for more than half of the indexed entries on migration, refugees, xenophobia, and related topics investigated in the field of Communication Studies, with 185 occurrences. The Portal de Periódicos da Capes has established itself in Brazil as an important resource for research in all areas of knowledge, and the greater number of published works available there can be explained by its ability to aggregate works from multiple sources. In Portugal, the repository of the University of Minho (RepositóriUM) stands out, with 31 occurrences, bearing in mind that it is an academic institution that has had a reputation for excellence in research on Communication for over a decade. In Brazil, the consulted scientific institutions in the field of Communication returned the following results for published works on migration, refugees, xenophobia, and related topics: 32 in the Intercom database, 23 in the Compós database, and 4 in the SBPJor database. The repositories of these institutions primarily contain academic papers presented at conferences, which in many cases have no other opportunity for publication than in these digital libraries. In Portugal, the only consulted scientific institution in the field of Communication was Sopcom, where 16 indexed works on migration, refugees, xenophobia, and related topics investigated in the field of Communication were identified, all of them in books of annals from Sopcom congresses.

Chart 4
Total number of published works by search keyword⁹

When summarizing the topics according to the selected keywords, it is noteworthy that xenophobia is not necessarily the focus of all investigations in which migration and refuge are the primary focus. Although references to prejudice, negative stereotyping, and physical and symbolic violence directed at migrants and refugees are of concern in some of the collected works, the concept of xenophobia, along with its particularities, is rarely addressed directly. Some investigations refer to economic, political, religious, and cultural issues, as well as other factors, as the driving forces behind migration and refugee flows, without explicitly mentioning the difficulties faced by people in their destination countries.

Communication, as an all-encompassing term for a highly diverse field of knowledge, stands out, followed by works that focus on journalism, social media, and marketing, in that order of prominence. Analyzing the quantitative data regarding communication and media products and processes, social media seems to hold potential for further investigation, especially when considering its increasing role in social life.

There is a worrisome gender gap in the research results, as there is an absence of interest in women's migratory flows, even though data focused on migration, refugees, xenophobia, and related issues from organizations such as UNHCR and others indicate a high percentage of women among the people affected by this global issue. This absence of references to women in studies on migration, refugees, xenophobia, and related topics in the field of Communication contrasts with the opposite trend observed in other areas of knowledge (Assis, 2007).

Conclusions

Three findings proved to be most relevant in this study of published works that were indexed in online open-access repositories and that investigate xenophobia, refugees, and related topics at the intersection with the field of Communication Studies. The first one, shared by both Brazil and Portugal, reveals that xenophobia is not necessarily addressed in its conceptual dimensions and that the multiple consequences it brings for people and societies are not necessarily examined, even when the study is interested in migration and refuge situations. To neglect xenophobia in these investigations means to relegate to the background a problem that tends to affect people in migratory flows, regardless of their motivations for relocation. Another problematic absence in publications indexed in Brazil and Portugal concerns gender relations, with women not being placed at the center of the dynamics of xenophobia, refuge, and related topics, despite constituting a high percentage of the population in migratory flows.

The third notable finding was a recognition of the Portal de Periódicos da Capes prominent position in Brazil, single-handedly accounting for more than half of the indexed published works in the sample obtained for this study. Because it is maintained by a funding agency, it has better access to human and financial resources, which are not always available for creating and maintaining online open-access repositories.

In Portugal, considering the scope of this research, the highest number of published works was found in the repository of the University of Minho, a fact consistent with the status of this institution, which has been classified as a center of excellence for over a decade. Evaluations that rank educational institutions consider, among other criteria, the maintenance of online open-access repositories.

Establishing and maintaining online open-access repositories in Brazil and Portugal is strategic not only for compiling and disseminating academic publications freely and democratically. Another advantage lies in the promotion of science produced in Portuguese, thereby contributing to the cultural recognition of a language spoken in many countries, and that provides a foundation for the research of thousands of scientists around the world.

Acknowledgments

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa de Minas Gerais (Fapemig), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) e Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (Capes).

• 1
  This article was written as an outcome of the CAPES/PRINT/UFMG - Institutional Internationalization Program - number 88887.71688120200, senior visiting professor, with funding from Capes. It was produced at the University of Minho, Portugal, under the supervision of Professor Rosa Cabecinhas.
• How to cite
  CARVALHO, Carlos A. Xenophobia Under Investigation in Brazilian and Portuguese Academic Works Available in Online Repositories. São Paulo: INTERCOM – Revista Brasileira de Ciências da Comunicação, v. 49 (2026), e2026122. https://doi.org/10.1590/1809-58442026122en
• Funding
  This research was made possible through support from the Minas Gerais Research Support Foundation (Fapemig), the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), and the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Capes).
• Funding:
  CNPq
• Inclusive Language
  The authors use inclusive language that recognizes diversity, demonstrates respect for all individuals, is sensitive to differences, and promotes equal opportunities.
• Plagiarism Check
  Revista Intercom submits all documents approved for publication to plagiarism verification using a dedicated tool.
• Revista Intercom encourages data sharing but, in observance of ethical guidelines, does not require disclosure of any means of identifying research subjects, thereby preserving their privacy. The practice of open data aims to enable reproducibility and ensure full transparency of published research results, without requiring the identification of research participants.
• XML Editing and Markup
  IR Publicações
• Article submitted to similarity verification.
• Double-blind review system
• 2
  Original quote: “até junho de 2025, mais de 117,3 milhões de pessoas em todo o mundo foram forçadas a se deslocar devido a perseguições, conflitos, violência, violações de direitos humanos e eventos que perturbaram seriamente a ordem pública.” Available at: https://www.acnur.org/br/dados-refugiados-no-brasil-e-no-mundo.
• 3
  Original quote: “Pelo menos 8.565 pessoas morreram em rotas migratórias em todo o mundo em 2023, tornando-o o ano mais mortal já registrado, de acordo com os dados coletados pelo Projeto Migrantes Desaparecidos, da OIM, Agência da ONU para as Migrações. O número total de mortes em 2023 representa um aumento trágico de 20% em comparação com 2022, enfatizando a necessidade urgente de ação para evitar mais perdas de vida.” Available at: https://brazil.iom.int/pt-br/news/2023-marca-o-ano-mais-mortal-para-migrantes-com-quase-8600-mortes-registradas.
• 4
  Bolsonaro acumula frases preconceituosas contra diferentes alvos; relembre. Available at: https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2022/02/bolsonaro-acumula-frases-preconceituosas-contra-diferentes-alvos-relembre.shtml.
• 5
  Covid-19: Ventura diz que apresentará plano de confinamento para população cigana mesmo sem apoios. Available at: https://expresso.pt/politica/2020-05-06-Covid-19-Ventura-diz-que-apresentara-plano-de-confinamento-para-populacao-cigana-mesmo-sem-apoios.
• 6
  The baseline informs the year of publication. The vertical bars correspond to the number of publications in the respective year.
• 7
  The left bar shows the number of academic works published in Brazil, while the right bar shows the number of academic works published in Portugal.
• 8
  The baseline lists the consulted repositories. The vertical bars indicate the total number of published works found in each repository.
• 9
  In the left column of the chart, there is a list of the search keywords used in this study. The baseline shows the total number of published works found for each keyword.

Data Availability

All data supporting this article are contained within the text.

References

• ACNUR. Migrações, refúgio e apatridia: guia para comunicadores. 2019. Disponível em: https://www.acnur.org/portugues/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Migracoes-FICAS-color_FINAL.pdf Consulta em 20/03/2023.
  » https://www.acnur.org/portugues/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Migracoes-FICAS-color_FINAL.pdf
• ACNUR. Relatório de impacto: Celebrando o trabalho que doadores solidários, como você, tornam possível. 2020. Disponível em: https://www.acnur.org/portugues/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/WEB-ACNUR-Impact-Report-2020.pdf Consulta em 20/03/2023.
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• ALBUQUERQUE JR., Durval Muniz de. Xenofobia: medo e rejeição ao estrangeiro. São Paulo: Cortez, 2016.
• Alto Comissariado das Nações Unidas para Refugiados. Dados sobre refúgio 2023. https://www.acnur.org/portugues/dados-sobre-refugio/#:~:text=Pelo%20menos%20108%2C4%20milhões,emprego%20e%20liberdade%20de%20movimento Consulta em 30/04/2024.
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• ASSIS, Gláucia de Oliveira. Mulheres migrantes no passado e no presente: gênero, redes sociais e migração internacional. Rev. Estud. Fem, Florianópolis , v. 15, n. 03, p. 745-772, dez. 2007.
• CABECINHAS, Rosa. Racismo e xenofobia: a actualidade de uma velha questão. Comunicación e Cidadanía, n. 2, 2008, p. 163-182.
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Edited by

• Editors Responsible for Reception, Desk Review, and Evaluation
  Ana Paula Goulart de Andrade (UFRRJ)
  Jorge Carlos Felz Ferreira (UFJF)

• Editors-in-Chief
  Dr. Marialva Barbosa
  Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)
  Dr. Sonia Virginia Moreira
  Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ)

• Executive Editors
  Dr. Jorge C. Felz Ferreira
  Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF)
  Dr. Ana Paula Goulart de Andrade
  Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ)

• Associate Editor
  Dr. Sandro Torres de Azevedo
  Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  27 Apr 2026
• Date of issue
  2026

History

• Received
  12 Jan 2025
• Accepted
  11 Feb 2026
• Published
  30 Apr 2026