A robust repository network is essential to safeguarding Europe’s research legacy and advancing scientific excellence. As Open Science continues to reshape research, repositories serve as critical knowledge infrastructures that ensure research outputs remain accessible, trustworthy, and reusable.
Recognizing the strategic importance of repositories, OpenAIRE, COAR, LIBER, and SPARC Europe conducted a 2-stage community consultation in 2024. The results, aptly named IMPACT-REPO Action Plan, reveal a strong consensus on the value of repositories in four key areas: impact, inclusiveness, trust, and innovation.
Repositories for Impact
Repositories maximize the reach and reuse of research outputs, making them accessible beyond academic institutions. By adhering to FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable), they facilitate knowledge dissemination to practitioners, industry, policymakers, and the public. A curated, openly accessible repository network strengthens research evaluation, validation, and discovery.
Repositories for Inclusiveness
Repositories provide free access to a wealth of research materials, eliminating paywalls and reducing knowledge disparities. Unlike commercial publishing platforms, repositories do not charge for publishing or access, making them an equitable option for researchers, students, and the public.
Repositories for Trust
Managed by academic institutions, libraries, and research centres, repositories are non-commercial and mission-driven, ensuring that research remains protected from corporate interests and technological obsolescence. Repositories implement preservation and security practices to safeguard research outputs against cyber incidents and data loss.
Repositories for Innovation
Repositories act as key hubs for scholarly content, ensuring seamless interoperability with AI-driven discovery tools and new publishing models. They provide the structured, curated data necessary for machine learning applications and generative AI tools to advance science in an ethically sound and transparent manner.
Call to Action: Strengthening Repositories for the Future
Repositories are not just infrastructure—they are strategic assets that accelerate knowledge sharing and enhance research impact. Institutions must take decisive action to future-proof repositories by:
- Investing in sustainable funding and staffing to maintain repository services
- Ensuring repositories are interoperable with research infrastructures
- Aligning repositories with institutional policies on Open Science
- Enhancing AI-readiness by implementing machine-readable metadata and linked data
- Strengthening national and international repository networks
- Training repository professionals to manage digital curation and AI applications
- Implementing digital preservation measures to protect research integrity
Future-Proof Repositories
OpenAIRE, COAR, LIBER, and SPARC Europe call upon institutional leaders, policymakers, and researchers to recognize repositories as an indispensable pillar of Open Science. By embedding repositories within national and European research strategies, we can ensure they remain resilient, AI-ready, and interconnected for generations to come.
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