Global Landscape of Open Access Repositories

Purpose: The present study attempts to highlight the status of “open access repositories” globally. Methodology: Present study is based on the data gathered from “open-DOAR”. Data gathered was thoroughly analyzed based on chosen parameters, viz., “Geographical distribution”, “Software usage”, “Language diversity”, “Operational status”, “Repository type”, “Content type” and “Subjects archived”. Findings: Open access repositories (OARs) have witnessed potential growth trends particularly in developed countries. The findings reveal that “USA” is the leading country with the largest number of repositories and “Europe” is the leading continent in contribution towards OARs. The study also reveals that the “DSpace” is one of the foremost software used by OARs and the maximum score of repositories are operationally functional and intuitional. Moreover, the study reveals that the majority of deposited contents are “journal articles” and “English” is the prominent language interface used by OARs and “multidisciplinary” subject’s leads in open DOAR. Research Limitation: The status of the open access repositories will be limited to only those repositories which have been indexed by “OpenDOAR”. Future Research: The study provides wider perspective of open access repositories and further, can be enriched by including research facets like, content management policies, and impact of OARs on scholarly communication