The Portuguese Journal of Structural Engineering (rpee) published its first issue in January 1978. It was an initiative of the LNEC Structures Department in order to fill a gap that existed at the time, aiming at the dissemination of the scientific and technical activity developed in this field. According to the first editorial, by Júlio Ferry Borges, "its fundamental objective is to inform about the recent progress in the field of structural engineering".

In this initial phase, the rpee, directed then by Artur Ravara, associated three scientific groups: the Portuguese Prestressed Group, now the Portuguese Group of Structural Concrete, the Portuguese Group of Structural Engineering (GPBE), currently Portuguese Association of Structural Engineering (APEE), and the Portuguese Society of Earthquake Engineering (SPES). This partnership ended in 1987, the same year in which the rpee became autonomous.

In commemoration of its 25th anniversary, the rpee underwent several changes, the most significant of which was the introduction of a panel of reviewers. Mário Castanheta, then Director of the rpee, pointed out the relevance of this change, which was intended "to guarantee the quality, actuality and relevance of published articles".

Throughout the 40-year life of the rpee, in which the publication of the Series I (comprising 55 issues) and the publication of the Series II (with 15 issues) were completed, many authors contributed with their work to the Journal. They are the ones mainly responsible for the scientific and technical quality achieved by rpee.

On June 7, 2016, the partnership protocol for the edition of the Series III of the rpee was signed between the LNEC - National Laboratory for Civil Engineering, APEE - Portuguese Association of Structural Engineering (Portuguese Group of IABSE), GPBE - Portuguese Group of Structural Concrete (Portuguese Group of fib) and the SPES - Portuguese Society of Earthquake Engineering (Portuguese Group of EAEE and IAEE). Thus, a partnership between LNEC, APEE, GPBE and SPES was renewed, as it had happened in the beginning of Series I.

The Journal’s web page, created in 2007 to bring readers together and take advantage of new information technologies, allows the publishing of the Series III numbers in digital format and open access.

Signing of the partnership protocol for the edition of the Series III of the rpee

From left to right: Eng. Manuel Pipa (GPBE) | Eng. Carlos Pina (LNEC) | Prof. Fernando Branco (APEE) | Prof. Aníbal Costa (SPES)

Lastly, we wish to thank all of those who have preceded us in the direction of the rpee, and whose name and positions we remember here:

Series I

Series II

Série III

december, 2024