In the evolving landscape of Open Access research, ensuring that repositories and data sources meet high standards of quality and interoperability is crucial; OpenAIRE PROVIDE plays a key role in this process by offering the "OpenAIRE Metadata Validator" to evaluate the compatibility level of data sources with the OpenAIRE Guidelines.
Quality Assurance & Compliance
The OpenAIRE validation process ensures that data sources adhere to OpenAIRE’s guidelines, promoting consistency, accuracy, and interoperability of metadata. By passing this validation, data sources demonstrate their commitment to follow global standards to expose their metadata, enhancing the interoperability and quality of their content.
Increased Visibility and Recognition
Data sources that successfully meet OpenAIRE’s validation criteria can display the OpenAIRE Validated badge on their official website. This badge signals to researchers, institutions, and funders that the data source meets high standards for metadata quality and interoperability. Moreover, validated data sources are indexed in the OpenAIRE Graph, a vast, global interconnected research database, significantly improving discoverability and accessibility.
Enhanced Research Impact
Being validated by OpenAIRE ensures that a data source's content is more easily accessible to a global research community. This increases engagement, citation potential, and the overall impact of the research hosted within the data source.
Alignment with Global Standards
OpenAIRE’s validation process aligns with the best international practices in Open Access research, ensuring that repositories comply with widely recognised standards. This alignment facilitates smoother integration with other research infrastructures and databases, further expanding the reach of validated content.
Trust and Reputation
Data sources displaying the OpenAIRE Validated badge gain a competitive edge by building trust among researchers and funding bodies. Validation reassures users that the data source follows high-quality metadata and interoperability standards, making it a preferred choice for depositing and discovering research outputs.
The OpenAIRE validation process is more than just a certification—it’s a gateway to greater visibility, credibility, and impact. By ensuring compliance with OpenAIRE’s guidelines, data sources enhance their metadata quality, broaden their research reach, and position themselves as key contributors to the Open Access research ecosystem. Embracing OpenAIRE PROVIDE validation is a strategic step toward building a more connected, transparent, and reliable research environment.
OpenAIRE guidelines are being adopted in repository communities and networks beyond Europe, including Latin America (LA Referencia network), Africa (LIBSENSE initiative), Canada, and Japan. Additionally, OpenAIRE has fully aligned with the EOSC Interoperability Framework, thereby enhancing the relevance of these metadata guidelines within the European Research Area.
How do I get the validated badge?
Instructions for registered data sources
The OpenAIRE Validated badge is available for data sources registered in OpenAIRE and validated by the Aggregation team. Managers of validated data sources can get the badge by accessing their dashboard in OpenAIRE PROVIDE. The badge is placed in the top right corner of the dashboard and can be downloaded and reused in the data source platform.
Instructions for data sources to be registered
For new registered data sources in OpenAIRE, the Validated badge will be made available in the OpenAIRE PROVIDE dashboard as soon as the Aggregation team evaluates the compatibility with the OpenAIRE Guidelines, confirms the validation and starts the content aggregation. As soon as the data source is validated, the badge will be placed in the top right corner of the dashboard and can be downloaded and reused in the data source platform.
