José Eduardo Franco has developed original research works in the areas of Portuguese mythology and the great historical controversies that marked the cultural, political and religious life of Portugal. He has studied history of the Jesuits, particularly the antijesuitic phenomenon and the hermeneutic of myths and Portuguese and European utopias. He is also a columnist in the periodical press, with articles published in the areas of History, Mythocriticism, Culture, Philosophy and Religion Sciences Hermeneutics, Sciences of Education and Women's History. Besides his research work and project coordination, he has organized international scientific congresses, such as the International Congress Father Manuel Antunes: Interfaces of Portuguese and European Cultures, the International Congress Gardens of the World: Discourses and Practices, the International Congresso of Religious Orders and Congregations in Portugal, the Council of Trento: Restore or Innovate - 450 years of History, and the I International Symposium History, Culture and Science from/of Madeira, with the theme What Knowledge for the XXI Century?. From 2012 until 2015, he was the Director of the CLEPUL, and until 2012, he was the President of the Board of the European Institute of Cultural Sciences Father Manuel Antunes, where he founded and coordinated the degrees in Cultural Sciences. Until 2011, he was the Vice-President of the International Society for Iberian-Slavonic Studies. He is currently a professor-coordinator with equivalence to full Professor at the Aberta University, where he is the director of CIDH - Invited Chair of the FCT / Infante Dom Henrique for Atlantic Island Studies and Globalization.
Coordinator of the research project entitled “Documentos sobre a História da Expansão Portuguesa existentes no Arquivo Secreto do Vaticano” , funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology and promoted by the Centre of Studies of Peoples and Cultures of Portuguese Expression – UCP.
Member of the coordinating committee of the project for the critical edition of Obra Completa do Padre Manuel Antunes, SJ , published by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
Coordinator of the project “Vieira Global”, which includes The Complete Works of Father António Vieira - published by Círculo de Leitores in 2013-2014 a multimedia Dictionary of Father António Vieira and the edition of the selected works of Vieira, translated in 12 international large-circulation idioms.
Coordinator of the Dicionário Enciclopédico da Madeira .
Metamorfoses de um povo: Religião e Política nos Regimentos da Inquisição Portuguesa – with complete edition of Regimentos da Inquisição Portuguesa,, Lisbon, Prefácio, 2004;
Influência de Joaquim de Flora em Portugal e na Europa. With the edition of Natália Correia's writings about “Utopia da Idade Feminina do Espírito Santo” ,, Lisbon, Roma Editora, 2004;
Dois exercícios de Ironia: “Contra os Jesuítas” de Sena Freitas and “Defesa da Carta Encíclica de Sua Santidade o Papa Pio IX” de Antero de Quental,, Lisbon, Prefácio, 2005;
Coordination of the edition of the unpublished manuscript of the Tratado do Quinto Império em Portugal. With the complete edition of the Treaty of the Fifth Monarchy by Sebastião de Paiva, Preface by Arnaldo Espírito Santo, Lisbon, Imprensa Nacional – Casa da Moeda, 2006;
O Mito dos Jesuítas em Portugal e no Brasil, Séculos XVI-XX, 2 Vols., Lisbon, Gradiva, 2006–2007;
Padre Manuel Antunes : Interfaces da Cultura Portuguesa e Europeia, Work coordinated in partnership with Hermínio Rico, Oporto, Campo das Letras, 2007;
Jesuítas e Inquisição: cumplicidades de confrontações, Rio de Janeiro, Editora da Universidade Estadual do Rio de Janeiro, 2007;
O Padre António Vieira e as Mulheres: Uma visão barroca do Universo feminino,, Oporto, Campo das Letras, 2008;
