What are Open Access Repositories?
Open Access repositories are a key part of ensuring that material from the scientific research process is available to anyone, anywhere. Research data, preprints, and peer-reviewed manuscripts can be deposited and made openly available in them.
They collect large amounts of material and enable it to be accessed via search engines. Repositories are an important aspect of open science.
Here, we outline what Open Access repositories are, providing examples and outlining their benefits.
Definition of Open Access repositories
An Open Access repository is a database or a virtual archive established to collect, disseminate and preserve scientific output like scientific articles and datasets and make them freely available.
The act of depositing material in a repository is ‘self-archiving’ and is known as the ‘green’ route to Open Access (versus ‘gold’, which refers to publishing in a fully Open Access journal).
Institutional repositories host research from a specific institution, such as a university, whilst disciplinary or subject repositories host research from particular research areas.
How repositories work
Material is uploaded to repositories. What can be uploaded is determined by the individual repository, such as data or preprints.
Repositories must be interoperable, which refers to the ability of different systems to work together, e.g., inter-operating, and mixing different datasets. This is achieved by ensuring material has the correct metadata (data about data), such as author, data, digital object identifier, etc.
Interoperability enables repositories to be harvested by search engines. This means research stored across various repositories can be explored through search engines and registries.
Examples of repositories
There are various registries for open repositories that enable researchers to browse the available options.
OpenDOAR is the quality-assured global directory of academic Open Access repositories. It is used for searching, identifying, and browsing repositories. Search features include location, software, or type of material held.
ROAR, the Registry of Open Access Repositories, aims to promote the development of Open Access by providing timely information about the growth and status of repositories throughout the world.
Re3Data, the Registry of Research Data Repositories, is a comprehensive registry of research data repositories that is global and covers all research disciplines.
All three examples showcase the vast number of repositories available globally for different types of research materials.
Benefits of repositories
There are various benefits to repositories for the academic community:
- Maximize the potential visibility, dissemination, and use of research materials.
- Provide access to research for institutions that do not have the financial means to pay for access.
- Repositories encourage the permanent archiving of research.
- Authors are not limited to publishing their peer-reviewed, publication-ready manuscripts as they can upload preprints.
- Institutional repositories can serve as accessible overviews of an institution’s work.
- Repositories enable interdisciplinary research.
Overall, the primary benefit of repositories is enabling the open availability of diverse scholarly materials to anyone, anywhere at no cost.
Ensuring openness throughout the research process
Repositories are an essential aspect of the open science mission: to increase the transparency of and open the entire research process for all.
Infrastructure such as repositories are integral to enabling researchers to conduct open science practices. Browse OpenDOAR, ROAR, or Re3Data to find suitable places to deposit or access work.
MDPI is committed to open science
If you want to publish an early version of your article, try Preprints.org, MDPI’s free service for publishing research that is not peer-reviewed and report on either ongoing or complete research.
Furthermore, the MDPI journal Data is an Open Access journal on data in science with two sections. The first section explores the collection, treatment, and analysis methods of data in science. The second section allows authors who have deposited their data in an online repository to publish a Data Descriptor. Data Descriptors include information describing the data and how they were collected and processed. The original dataset is linked to in the article, enhancing the data’s visibility, reusability, and transparency.
Click here for our article, All You Need to Know About Open Access, which covers a range of topics that can help boost your understanding and also keep you up to date.
