In defence of repositories – COAR

"While discovery is inherently easier when content is contained in a large publisher’s walled garden, it is incorrect to say that articles in repositories are not easily discoverable. This may be the case for the few researchers who rely only on publishers’ proprietary databases, but the search engine of first choice for many researchers is Google Scholar, which indexes repositories comprehensively. There are also a growing number of specialised search engines for finding open content in repositories such as OpenAlex, OpenAIRE, LA Referencia, CORE and so on. Moreover, non-academic users – who are one of the major beneficiaries of open access – do not typically use scientific databases, but rather turn to familiar search engines such as Google and Google Scholar. COAR, on behalf of all repositories, has regular communications with all of these services to ensure repository content is visible and discoverable.

In recent surveys about the role of repositories in Europe undertaken by COAR, LIBER, OpenAIRE and SPARC Europe, discoverability and impact were the two main reasons cited for using repositories. Resources in repositories have high levels of readership and usage, even when there is an open access version of an article held elsewhere. So, obviously, many researchers, practitioners, and the public do not have a problem with discoverability of repository collections. Please take a few minutes to read the testimonials published on the Harvard repository to see the opinions of real readers, instead of relying on the perspective of someone who has admitted in her own blog post that she does not even use repositories...."