The OAPEN Foundation (OAPEN) and OpenAIRE are delighted to announce a new partnership to support the delivery of COUNTER-conformant usage data for the OAPEN Library through OpenAIRE PROVIDE, while strengthening interoperability between open scholarly communication infrastructures.

Through this collaboration, COUNTER-conformant usage data for Open Access (OA) books in the OAPEN Library and metadata records in Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) will be aggregated and delivered by OpenAIRE, feeding the OAPEN Library Dashboard. This service provides publishers, libraries, and funders with insights into the reach and use of OA books and metadata, helping stakeholders monitor and support OA publishing. OpenAIRE PROVIDE will allow these stakeholders to continue to benefit from this insight via personalised dashboards and for OAPEN to continue to promote the importance of high-quality, open scholarly research and its global reach.

The partnership ensures continuity for the Dashboard following the retirement of the IRUS-UK service in April 2026. Today, the OAPEN Library hosts more than 40,000 OA books from over 500 publishers. Key stakeholders, including publishers, libraries, and funders, rely on this usage data to support their Open Science goals.

Beyond usage statistics, the collaboration also aims to strengthen the visibility and discoverability of OA books within the wider Open Science ecosystem. The partnership will explore opportunities to enhance metadata exchange and interoperability between the two infrastructures, including the integration of OAPEN metadata and usage information into services powered by the OpenAIRE Graph. This will support improved linking of books and book chapters with research projects, funders, institutions, and other research outputs through persistent identifiers and enriched scholarly metadata.

The collaboration reflects a shared commitment to open, community-driven infrastructures that support the discoverability, accessibility, and monitoring of scholarly books. By working together, OpenAIRE and OAPEN aim to strengthen the role of OA books within the wider research ecosystem and support the communities that rely on open scholarly communication services.

This partnership reflects OAPEN’s belief that open access can only thrive on robust, interoperable, and community‑governed infrastructures. Working with OpenAIRE enables us to ensure continuity and quality in usage reporting while embedding OA books more deeply into the wider open science ecosystem, where data, services, and standards are shared rather than siloed.

Books have always been central to scholarly communication, but in research information systems they are still too often treated as isolated records. The OpenAIRE Graph offers a different approach: it connects books and book chapters with the people, organisations, projects, funders, datasets and publications that surround them. Working with OAPEN is an opportunity to bring open access books more deeply into this open knowledge graph, making them not only easier to find, but easier to understand, monitor and reuse as part of the broader research landscape.

About OAPEN: OAPEN is an independent, not-for-profit Dutch foundation registered at the National Library in The Hague. OAPEN is dedicated to supporting open access, peer‑reviewed scholarly books, and manages three key infrastructures: the OAPEN Library, the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB), and the Open Access Books Toolkit. OAPEN connects libraries, publishers, researchers, and funders with a global infrastructure for peer-reviewed open access books to advance research and the public good.

About OpenAIRE: OpenAIRE is a Non-Profit Partnership, established in 2018 as a legal entity, OpenAIRE AMKE, to ensure a permanent open scholarly communication infrastructure and support research in Europe and beyond. OpenAIRE is making Open Science happen. Collectively and in practical ways. Its fields of expertise and activities include services, policies and training. Operating since 2009, OpenAIRE is an integral part and a leading force behind the European Open Science Cloud developments.