What Is the OpenAIRE Scientific Knowledge Graph and What Can You Do With It?

OpenAIRE is an open scholarly communication infrastructure that maintains a Scientific Knowledge Graph—a rich, interlinked graph of publications, datasets, software, projects, and more. You can use it to discover and map global research outputs, run scientometric analyses, track research trends and impact, and connect grants, funders, and research outputs through persistent identifiers such as Grant DOIs. It is designed for researchers, institutional leaders, funders, and infrastructure providers who want to turn Open Science principles into practice across the full research lifecycle.

What the graph contains

According to OpenAIRE's own description, the graph links multiple entity types rather than just bibliographic records:

• Publications — articles and other scholarly outputs
• Data — research datasets
• Software — research software as a first-class output
• Projects — funded research projects
• And more — the graph is described as interlinked, so these entities connect to one another rather than sitting in separate silos

This matters because it lets you move from a single paper to its underlying data, software, and funding project—or work in reverse from a funder or grant to everything it produced.

What you can do with it

Discover and map research outputs

The graph is positioned as a way to "uncover the full picture of global research." For a researcher or institution, that means locating outputs across disciplines and sources rather than relying on a single repository or journal index.

Run scientometric analysis

OpenAIRE explicitly describes the graph as "a powerful tool for scientometrics." Because publications, data, software, and projects are linked, analyses can go beyond citation counts to examine how different output types relate.

Track trends and assess impact

OpenAIRE offers real-time analytics across funders, institutions, and disciplines, so you can track research trends and align practices with measurable impact. This is the practical route from "discovery" to "impact" that OpenAIRE frames as its core promise.

Connect funding metadata via persistent identifiers

OpenAIRE is scaling its funding metadata ecosystem by linking grants, funders, and research outputs through persistent identifiers like Grant DOIs. If your goal is to trace which grants produced which outputs—or to make your own funding metadata machine-actionable—this is the mechanism to look at.

How it fits into the wider OpenAIRE service set

The graph is one component of a broader infrastructure. Related services that pair naturally with it include:

Some services are marked "Coming Soon" on OpenAIRE's site—for example, a narrative CV and Open Science profile, and a tool to anonymize research data. Treat those as not yet generally available rather than as current capabilities.

When to use it—and what to check first

Use the Scientific Knowledge Graph when your question is relational: What did this grant produce? Which institutions collaborate on this topic? How do data and software outputs cluster around a field? If you only need to read a single paper, a standard search engine or your library's discovery layer is simpler.

Before committing, verify two things on openaire.eu: which services are live versus "Coming Soon," and whether your repository or data source already meets OpenAIRE/EOSC interoperability standards—the site offers a validation route for exactly that. The site does not state pricing or login requirements for these services, so confirm access terms directly rather than assuming they are free or open without registration.