COAR (Confederation of Open Access Repositories)
The Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR) is an association of repository initiatives with international membership. Launched in October 2009, COAR now has members of over 100 institutions worldwide from 35 countries in six continents. Its mission is to enhance the visibility and application of research outputs through a global network of open access digital repositories.
As part of the OpenAIRE2020-consortium, COAR is leading a work package on international alignment. As such, COAR has already been working previously on a number of aspects of alignment and promotes the interoperability of open access (OA) repositories on an international scale. Through its member institutions COAR is working towards the development of a global Open Access repository community of practice from across counties, regions and disciplines. Our vision is a global knowledge infrastructure of networking Open Access repositories. COAR’s working groups address the acquisition of content for repositories, interoperability, and training and support actions. In particular, one working group is exploring best practices and expertise in the area of populating repositories, including the implementation of OA policies and working with publishers. COAR’s working group on interoperability has started a discussion process on interoperability with the aim to develop a COAR Roadmap for Global Open Access Repository Interoperability. Moreover, COAR’s third working group explores needs for support and training to be addressed in workshops and other activities.
Address
COAR Office, Göttingen State and University Library, Platz der Göttinger Sieben 1, 37073 Göttingen, Germany