Aligning Repository Networks and the Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR)

Abstract

Research is becoming increasingly international. Many of today’s greatest challenges such as climate change, poverty, and health are global in nature and must be addressed in collaborative ways by researchers across regional and disciplinary boundaries. In this environment, research infrastructure should be connected, networked and developed to reflect the evolving needs of the research community.

COAR (Confederation of Open Access Repositories) is an international organization with members from over 35 countries on 5 continents. COAR’s mission is to raise the visibility of research outputs through a global network of repositories. We are active on two levels: (1) At the practical level, we support communities of practice around areas of importance for our members mainly in terms of best practices, interoperability and monitoring trends in the repository landscape and (2) At the strategic level, we aim to facilitate greater alignment of regional and national repository networks around the globe.

In March 2014, the Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR) launched a major initiative to align repository networks across the world. The aim of the project is to establish a mechanism for ongoing dialogue between repository networks. Strategically, it will give the repository community a stronger global voice and raise the visibility of the role of repositories as critical research infrastructure. It will act as leverage for local initiatives and demonstrate that networks are aware of and operate consistently with international trends. At the practical level, this activity will allow repository networks to discuss and adopt best practices for metadata standards, vocabularies and services.