Summary: A theoretical analysis is carried out to determine the analytical approximate description of the fluid film force of porous finite journal bearings. The investigation has been conducted assuming the Warner solution for the pressure field and the approximate analytical solution for the long porous journal bearings proposed by D'Agostino et al. (2004). The analytical approach for studying the behaviour of a system is more effective than a numerical one because of it allows to cover not only the individual case but the whole class to which the system belongs. Furthermore, the model proposed allows a quick analytical determination of the fluid film force for different values of the permeability coefficient, L/D ratio, eccentricity ratio. The results are in good agreement with those achieved by means of the FDM based solution.