What Is OpenAIRE and What Does It Provide?

Updated

OpenAIRE is an open scholarly communication infrastructure that supports open access, open data, and open science through a scientific knowledge graph and a suite of services spanning the research lifecycle. It is aimed at researchers, institutional leaders, funders, and infrastructure providers who need to make research outputs discoverable, measurable, and interoperable. The sections below explain what the platform is, what it offers, and how to judge whether it fits a given need.

What OpenAIRE is

OpenAIRE describes itself as an "Open Scholarly Communication Infrastructure" and a "Scientific Knowledge Graph." In practice, that means two connected things:

  • A knowledge graph: a rich, interlinked graph of publications, datasets, software, projects, and more, positioned as a tool for scientometrics and for uncovering the full picture of global research.
  • A service layer: tools that help turn open science principles into practice across the research lifecycle, from planning and managing data to publishing, tracking impact, and building profiles.

It also positions itself within the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) context, with services described as EOSC-ready or EOSC-compliant.

Main service areas

The platform groups its offerings by function. The table below summarizes the services named on the site and what each is for.

Service area What it provides
Research graph An interlinked graph of publications, data, software, projects, and more; useful for scientometrics
Data and Software Management Plans Creation of FAIR, machine-actionable plans that evolve with a project
Gateways Customizable, EOSC-ready gateways to link and showcase a community's research outputs
Analytics Tracking research trends, assessing impact, and aligning practices across funders, institutions, and disciplines
Narrative CV and Open Science profile Building a profile that highlights contributions beyond publications (listed as coming soon)
Metadata aggregation Aggregating and interconnecting content from repositories, CRIS systems, and journals with EOSC-compliant metadata
Data anonymization An easy-to-use tool to anonymize research data while preserving utility
Organization identifiers Disambiguating and mapping research-performing organizations across data sources
Interoperability guidance Ensuring a repository or data source meets OpenAIRE and EOSC interoperability standards
Overlay journals Running overlay journals that peer review preprints and connect to the open publishing ecosystem
Repository Sharing and preserving research outputs of any kind in a trusted, FAIR-aligned repository

Two entries in the site's list—interoperability guidance and the repository description—overlap in wording, so treat the table as a map of functions rather than a strict product catalog.

Who it serves

OpenAIRE states its services are for researchers, institutional leaders, funders, and infrastructure providers. The fit differs by role:

  • Researchers get support across the lifecycle: management plans, a repository for outputs of any kind, anonymization for sensitive data, and a profile for contributions beyond papers.
  • Institutions and communities can use gateways to showcase outputs and analytics to track trends and impact.
  • Funders can use analytics and the linked funding metadata—OpenAIRE reports scaling its funding metadata ecosystem by linking grants, funders, and research outputs via persistent identifiers such as Grant DOIs.
  • Infrastructure providers and repositories can check interoperability against OpenAIRE and EOSC standards and aggregate metadata from repositories, CRIS systems, and journals.

How to decide whether to use it

Use the following conditions to judge fit:

  • If you need a broad, cross-source view of research—publications, data, software, and projects together—the research graph and analytics are the relevant starting points.
  • If your work must align with EOSC—for example, a repository seeking compliance or a community building a gateway—the interoperability and gateway services are the direct match.
  • If you manage data through a project's life—the Data and Software Management Plans service is designed to evolve with the project rather than be written once.
  • If you need to share sensitive data—the anonymization tool is intended to protect privacy while preserving utility.
  • If you want to highlight outputs beyond publications—the narrative CV and Open Science profile is listed as coming soon, so plan around its availability.

One caveat: the site does not state pricing or access requirements for these services. Do not assume they are free or usable without login; check the specific service page before committing.

Where to start

The site's own framing is "Open Science Starts Here," with entry points to explore services and join the community. For a first step, identify your role and the lifecycle stage you need—discovery and analytics, planning, sharing, or interoperability—then open the corresponding service. If your goal is compliance, begin with the interoperability guidance; if your goal is visibility, begin with gateways or the research graph.