NEPFIL Online was established on September 11, 2013, in Pelotas, located in the southern region of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, alongside the Teaching and Research Nucleus in Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy at the Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel). Initially, NEPFIL Online focused on creating educational books to meet the needs of the Philosophy undergraduate and bachelor’s courses, with a commitment to ensuring unrestricted access to these materials for all students, free of charge. The work was carried out with the support of scholarship holders and volunteer professors from the UFPel Department of Philosophy.

With its own editorial prefix through the Brazilian ISBN Agency (formerly under the responsibility of the National Library Foundation), the first volumes were published in January 2014. At that time, the Department of Philosophy already had a prestigious collection of printed books (published by the UFPel Publishing House), titled “Dissertatio Filosofia Collection.” Over time, it became clear that digital books increased the visibility and access to the published materials, which led to the incorporation of the Dissertatio Filosofia Collection into NEPFIL Online (which continues to feature the “Dissertatio Filosofia” logo on its book covers). Shortly after its first publications, NEPFIL Online quickly gained recognition, and its works began to be integrated into the pedagogical projects of various courses at both public and private institutions (made possible through the Creative Commons License in three layers: attribution, non-commercial use, and share-alike).

In 2017, NEPFIL Online formed a partnership with the UFPel Publishing House for dual-label publications (Dissertatio Filosofia and UFPel Publishing House) and with the Research Group on Philosophical Investigation (CNPq) for a major project translating entries from the renowned Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy into Portuguese. From this partnership with the Research Group on Philosophical Investigation, the “Investigação Filosófica Series” was created, which now has 34 volumes published. The online “Dissertatio Filosofia Series” has 76 volumes published.

In 2024, NEPFIL Online celebrated its 10th anniversary with an impressive catalog of 110 volumes of authored works, anthologies, and translations in a variety of philosophical fields. Its mission is to promote Philosophy in Portuguese to universalize access for students at all educational levels in Brazil, entirely free of charge. All books can be accessed and downloaded on the nucleus’s website. Additionally, all publications are rigorously selected, formatted, and reviewed to provide high-quality materials in a sustainable and credible manner.

Today, NEPFIL Online is one of the most important initiatives in the country in the field of Philosophy, with an excellent download traffic (62,493 downloads have been recorded since 2020, when Jetpack statistics started being collected on the site, with a peak of 1,053 downloads on a single day in August 2023). The great interest in our books is a source of great pride for the entire team, as it attests to the significance of our editorial project.