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OpenAIRE at QQML2026: Building Open Infrastructure for Responsible Research Assessment
OpenAIRE contributed to the discussion on the future of research assessment at the 18th Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Libraries International Conference (QQML2026), held from 26–29 May 2026 at the University of Bucharest, Romania.
During the conference's Open Systems session, Leonidas Pispiringas presented the paper" Open Infrastructure for Research Assessment: A FAIR-Aligned Framework for Researcher Profiles derived from the OpenAIRE Graph", in the "Open Systems" session, chaired by Maria Musoke, showcasing how open scholarly infrastructures can help institutions implement responsible research assessment in practice.
During the conference's Open Systems session, Leonidas Pispiringas presented the paper" Open Infrastructure for Research Assessment: A FAIR-Aligned Framework for Researcher Profiles derived from the OpenAIRE Graph", in the "Open Systems" session, chaired by Maria Musoke, showcasing how open scholarly infrastructures can help institutions implement responsible research assessment in practice.
The presentation addressed a challenge increasingly faced by universities, libraries, research organisations and funders worldwide: how to evaluate research in a way that recognises the full range of scholarly contributions while remaining transparent, trustworthy and evidence-based.
From Assessment Reform to Practical Implementation
Over the last few years, initiatives such as CoARA and the Barcelona Declaration on Open Research Information have accelerated the conversation around research assessment reform. Across the research ecosystem, there is growing consensus that evaluation should move beyond publication counts and citation-based metrics alone.
Research data, software, mentoring, leadership, interdisciplinary collaboration, community engagement and societal impact are increasingly recognised as valuable research contributions. However, broadening assessment criteria also raises a fundamental question: what evidence can support these evaluations?
Research data, software, mentoring, leadership, interdisciplinary collaboration, community engagement and societal impact are increasingly recognised as valuable research contributions. However, broadening assessment criteria also raises a fundamental question: what evidence can support these evaluations?
The presentation argued that responsible assessment requires research information that is open, interoperable and reusable. Evidence should be transparent, traceable and linked to trusted sources rather than hidden within proprietary systems. Open infrastructures therefore become a critical foundation for implementing assessment reform and reducing dependence on opaque commercial research intelligence platforms.
The OpenAIRE Graph: An Open Evidence Layer for Research Assessment
Central to this vision is the OpenAIRE Graph, OpenAIRE's large-scale scholarly knowledge graph, which provides a comprehensive and transparent view of the global research landscape. The OpenAIRE Graph currently aggregates more than 359 million research outputs from over 160,000 trusted sources worldwide. It connects publications, datasets, software, projects, organisations, funding information, citations and usage indicators, creating an interconnected network of scholarly information.
Beyond aggregation, the Graph enriches metadata through advanced processing and artificial intelligence technologies. Citation relationships, reproducibility signals, Fields of Science classifications, Sustainable Development Goal mappings and domain-specific semantic enrichments help transform fragmented records into a rich evidence base for research intelligence and assessment.
Beyond aggregation, the Graph enriches metadata through advanced processing and artificial intelligence technologies. Citation relationships, reproducibility signals, Fields of Science classifications, Sustainable Development Goal mappings and domain-specific semantic enrichments help transform fragmented records into a rich evidence base for research intelligence and assessment.
Built on open software, open metadata and open APIs, the Graph serves as public infrastructure that can be reused by institutions, libraries and service providers seeking transparent alternatives to proprietary research information systems.
Putting Researchers at the Centre
The major focus of the presentation was the introduction of researcher identities as first-class entities within the OpenAIRE Graph.
Researchers with ORCID identifiers are represented as dedicated Person entities that connect individuals with their scholarly outputs, institutional affiliations, funded projects, collaboration networks and impact indicators.
These entities combine trusted information originating from ORCID records, publication metadata, institutional repositories and project databases. Affiliation information is captured in two ways: through ORCID employment records that include ROR identifiers, providing dated institutional affiliations, and through publication affiliation strings processed by AffRo algorithm, which resolves organisational names and links them to researchers' ORCID-based profiles. This combination helps create more comprehensive and reliable representations of researchers' institutional affiliations.
The Graph also captures funding participation and collaboration networks, creating a richer representation of research careers and contributions than publication records alone can provide.
Researchers with ORCID identifiers are represented as dedicated Person entities that connect individuals with their scholarly outputs, institutional affiliations, funded projects, collaboration networks and impact indicators.
These entities combine trusted information originating from ORCID records, publication metadata, institutional repositories and project databases. Affiliation information is captured in two ways: through ORCID employment records that include ROR identifiers, providing dated institutional affiliations, and through publication affiliation strings processed by AffRo algorithm, which resolves organisational names and links them to researchers' ORCID-based profiles. This combination helps create more comprehensive and reliable representations of researchers' institutional affiliations.
The Graph also captures funding participation and collaboration networks, creating a richer representation of research careers and contributions than publication records alone can provide.
By linking researchers to the broader scholarly ecosystem, Person entities provide the foundation for more comprehensive and contextual forms of research assessment.
MyResearchFolio: Supporting Holistic Researcher Profiles
Building on the researcher profiles available through the OpenAIRE Graph, the presentation introduced MyResearchFolio, a new service designed to support responsible research assessment.
Developed within the broader GraspOS framework and incorporating results from the OPUS and PathOS projects, MyResearchFolio combines quantitative indicators with narrative approaches to assessment.
The prototype enables researchers to initialize their profile using ORCID and automatically populate their profiles using information from both ORCID and the OpenAIRE Graph. Researchers can curate profile information, enrich their records with additional context and synchronise selected updates back to ORCID.
Importantly, MyResearchFolio goes beyond traditional publication lists. The platform includes customizable narrative sections, interactive timelines, Open Science indicators and qualitative information that allow researchers to present diverse contributions such as mentoring, leadership, interdisciplinary work and community engagement alongside more conventional outputs.
Developed within the broader GraspOS framework and incorporating results from the OPUS and PathOS projects, MyResearchFolio combines quantitative indicators with narrative approaches to assessment.
The prototype enables researchers to initialize their profile using ORCID and automatically populate their profiles using information from both ORCID and the OpenAIRE Graph. Researchers can curate profile information, enrich their records with additional context and synchronise selected updates back to ORCID.
Importantly, MyResearchFolio goes beyond traditional publication lists. The platform includes customizable narrative sections, interactive timelines, Open Science indicators and qualitative information that allow researchers to present diverse contributions such as mentoring, leadership, interdisciplinary work and community engagement alongside more conventional outputs.
This approach supports emerging assessment practices that seek to evaluate research careers more fairly and comprehensively.
Open Infrastructure for the Research Community
The presentation highlighted OpenAIRE's commitment to openness and reuse. The OpenAIRE Graph is accessible through open APIs, graph search services, citation services, openly available datasets and comprehensive documentation, enabling organisations to build their own services and assessment workflows on top of transparent scholarly information.
Looking ahead, OpenAIRE is also exploring new ways of interacting with scholarly knowledge through AI-powered interfaces and intelligent agents, further expanding access to research information and analytics.
Looking Ahead
The discussion at QQML2026 demonstrated that responsible research assessment requires more than new policies and declarations. It also requires robust, open and interoperable infrastructures capable of providing trustworthy evidence for evaluation processes.
By combining the OpenAIRE Graph's interconnected scholarly metadata with researcher-centred services such as MyResearchFolio, OpenAIRE is helping create the foundations for a more transparent, inclusive and FAIR approach to research assessment.
Looking ahead, MyResearchFolio will continue to evolve as a researcher-centric service that reduces administrative burden and streamlines the management of scholarly profiles. Building on the trusted evidence available through the OpenAIRE Graph, future developments will explore the integration of Large Language Models (LLMs) and intelligent agents capable of automatically identifying, organising and pre-filling relevant information across researcher profiles. By combining open, high-quality scholarly metadata with LLM-powered assistance, MyResearchFolio aims to help researchers maintain richer and more up-to-date profiles with less manual effort, allowing them to focus on research rather than administrative tasks. A paper based on this work, "Open Infrastructure for Research Assessment: A FAIR-Aligned Framework for Researcher Profiles derived from the OpenAIRE Graph", will be published in the QQML2026 conference proceedings.
By combining the OpenAIRE Graph's interconnected scholarly metadata with researcher-centred services such as MyResearchFolio, OpenAIRE is helping create the foundations for a more transparent, inclusive and FAIR approach to research assessment.
Looking ahead, MyResearchFolio will continue to evolve as a researcher-centric service that reduces administrative burden and streamlines the management of scholarly profiles. Building on the trusted evidence available through the OpenAIRE Graph, future developments will explore the integration of Large Language Models (LLMs) and intelligent agents capable of automatically identifying, organising and pre-filling relevant information across researcher profiles. By combining open, high-quality scholarly metadata with LLM-powered assistance, MyResearchFolio aims to help researchers maintain richer and more up-to-date profiles with less manual effort, allowing them to focus on research rather than administrative tasks. A paper based on this work, "Open Infrastructure for Research Assessment: A FAIR-Aligned Framework for Researcher Profiles derived from the OpenAIRE Graph", will be published in the QQML2026 conference proceedings.
- Explore the OpenAIRE Graph: graph.openaire.eu
- Discover MyResearchFolio: myresearchfolio.openaire.eu
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