FCT was founded in 1997, succeeding the Junta Nacional de Investigação Científica e Tecnológica.
[1] Most scientific research in Portugal takes place in R&D institutions financed and evaluated by FCT.
As of 2019 there are 26 Associate Laboratories[2] and 307 R&D Units,[3] where 22,000 researchers work.
The foundation, together with the University of Lisbon's Centre of Philosophy,[4] publishes a biannual peer-reviewed open-access academic journal, Philosophica, International Journal for the History of Philosophy, which covers all areas of the history of philosophy.
Beginning 2022 it is published on their behalf by the Philosophy Documentation Center.