An open repository or open-access repository is a digital platform that holds research output and provides free, immediate and permanent access to research results for anyone to use, download and distribute. To facilitate
open access
Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which research outputs are distributed online, free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 definition), or libre op ...
such repositories must be
interoperable
Interoperability is a characteristic of a product or system to work with other products or systems. While the term was initially defined for information technology or systems engineering services to allow for information exchange, a broader def ...
according to the
Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting The Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) is a protocol developed for harvesting metadata descriptions of records in an archive so that services can be built using metadata from many archives. An implementation of O ...
(OAI-PMH).
Search engines
A search engine is a software system designed to carry out web searches. They search the World Wide Web in a systematic way for particular information specified in a textual web search query. The search results are generally presented in ...
harvest the content of open access repositories, constructing a database of worldwide, free of charge available research.
Open-access repositories, such as an
institutional repository
An institutional repository is an archive for collecting, preserving, and disseminating digital copies of the intellectual output of an institution, particularly a research institution. Academics also utilize their IRs for archiving published work ...
or
disciplinary repository, provide free access to research for users outside the institutional community and are one of the recommended ways to achieve the
open access
Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which research outputs are distributed online, free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 definition), or libre op ...
vision described in the
Budapest Open Access Initiative
The Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) is a public statement of principles relating to open access to the research literature, which was released to the public on February 14, 2002. It arose from a conference convened in Budapest by the Open S ...
definition of open access. This is sometimes referred to as the
self-archiving or "green" route to open access.
Benefits
The benefits of open-access repositories are:
* Opening up outputs of the institution to a worldwide audience;
* Maximizing the visibility and impact of these outputs as a result;
* Showcasing the institution to interested constituencies – prospective staff, prospective students and other stakeholders;
* Collecting and curating digital output;
* Managing and measuring research and teaching activities;
* Providing a workspace for work-in-progress, and for collaborative or large-scale projects;
* Enabling and encouraging interdisciplinary approaches to research;
* Facilitating the development and sharing of digital teaching materials and aids, and
* Supporting student endeavours, providing access to theses and dissertations and a location for the development of e-portfolios.
Software
The most frequently used repository software for open repositories according to
OpenDOAR are
Digital Commons,
DSpace and
EPrints
EPrints is a free and open-source software package for building open access repositories that are compliant with the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH). It shares many of the features commonly seen in document ...
.
Other examples are
arXiv,
bioRxiv,
Dryad,
Figshare,
Open Science Framework,
Samvera
Samvera, originally known as Hydra, is an open-source digital repository software product. Samvera main components are Fedora Commons, Solr, Blacklight, and HydraHead (a Ruby on Rails plugin and gem, respectively). Each Samvera implementation is ...
,
Ubiquity Repositories and
invenio (solution used by
Zenodo.
See also
*
CORE (research service)
*
Current research information system
*
Digital library
A digital library, also called an online library, an internet library, a digital repository, or a digital collection is an online database of digital objects that can include text, still images, audio, video, digital documents, or other digital ...
*
Digital Assets Repository – at Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt
*
Library publishing
*
Open-access archives
Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which research outputs are distributed online, free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 definition), or libre op ...
*
Open access around the world
*
ROARMAP
The Registry of Open Access Repositories (ROAR) is a searchable international database indexing the creation, location and growth of open access institutional repositories and their contents. ROAR was created by EPrints at University of Southampt ...
References
External links
*
Open repositories
{{DEFAULTSORT:Open Archive
Online archives
Open access (publishing)
Communication
Academic publishing
Research