OpenAIREThe OpenAIRE Guidelines are a suite of application profiles that define how research repositories should expose metadata for harvesting by the OpenAIRE infrastructure. They serve as the interoperability backbone of the European open science ecosystem, enabling consistent aggregation and interlinking of scholarly outputs -- literature, datasets, and CRIS (Current Research Information System) records -- across thousands of repositories.
Background
OpenAIRE (Open Access Infrastructure for Research in Europe) was established in 2009 as a European Commission-funded project to build an open infrastructure for monitoring and linking European research outputs. The guidelines emerged from the need to standardize how repositories communicate their metadata to the OpenAIRE aggregation system, initially focusing on literature repositories and Dublin Core metadata exposed through OAI-PMH. Over time, the scope expanded to data archives, CRIS managers, and software repositories.
Purpose and Scope
The guidelines help repository managers expose publications, datasets, and CRIS metadata via the OAI-PMH protocol for integration with OpenAIRE infrastructure. They specify how to structure metadata for three key areas:
- Access rights -- indicating open, embargoed, restricted, or closed access
- Funding information -- linking outputs to EU-funded projects (FP7, Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe)
- Related outputs -- connecting publications to datasets, software, and other research products
Three current guideline documents address different stakeholder groups:
| Document | Target Audience | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Guidelines for Literature, institutional, and thematic Repositories | Institutional and thematic repositories | Dublin Core / OAI-PMH |
| Guidelines for Data Archives | Research data repositories | DataCite Metadata Schema |
| Guidelines for CRIS Managers | CRIS systems | CERIF-XML |
Serializations and Technical Formats
The guidelines specify metadata exposure via OAI-PMH using XML serializations. For literature repositories, the primary format is Dublin Core (oai_dc) with additional fields. For CRIS systems, CERIF-XML is used. The data archive guidelines align with the DataCite metadata schema.
Governance and Maintenance
OpenAIRE is governed as a legal entity (OpenAIRE AMKE) with members drawn from research organizations across Europe. The guidelines are published through ReadTheDocs using the Sphinx documentation system. Community participation is encouraged, with contribution guides available in the documentation. The copyright notice indicates continuous development from 2015 through 2022, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International.
Validation and Compliance
The OpenAIRE Validator service, integrated in the Content Provider Dashboard, allows repository managers to test their repository's compatibility with the guidelines. If validation succeeds, the data source can be registered for regular aggregation and indexing in OpenAIRE. The system supports institutional and thematic repositories registered in OpenDOAR, research data repositories registered in re3data, individual e-journals, CRIS systems, aggregators, and publishers.
Horizon 2020 Open Access Requirements
The guidelines explicitly address compliance with the European Commission's Guidelines on Open Access to Scientific Publications and Research Data. By following the OpenAIRE Guidelines for Literature Repositories, institutions ensure that specific requirements on bibliographic information about open access publications are met.
Related Standards
- Dublin Core -- the base metadata vocabulary for literature repository guidelines
- DataCite Metadata Schema -- the basis for data archive guidelines
- CERIF -- the European standard for research information used in CRIS guidelines
- OAI-PMH -- the protocol through which metadata is harvested
- COAR Resource Types -- the controlled vocabulary used for resource type classification