# About

Welcome to the National Open Access Monitor, Ireland, a dynamic and innovative platform designed to chart and foster the transition of Ireland’s scholarly output to 100% Open Access. This project has been entrusted to OpenAIRE, following a contract awarded through a competitive tendering process by the Irish Research eLibrary (IReL) in collaboration with Education Procurement Services.
Take a look This platform is currently in its pilot phase. Over the next few months, we are dedicatedly working on enhancing data quality and expanding functionalities. Our goal is to deliver the final product by June 2024. This period is crucial for refining our services and ensuring that the platform meets the highest standards of excellence and user satisfaction, please contact us with any questions or comments.
At the heart of this platform is the mission to provide transparent, comprehensive insights into the state of Open Access in Ireland. It serves as a key instrument for analyzing trends, identifying challenges, and guiding policy development towards achieving an open, accessible, and sustainable research environment.

## Context

In 2022, the National Open Research Forum (NORF) awarded funding to six collaborative projects to implement priority actions in Ireland’s National Action Plan for Open Research 2022-2030. By building national capacity and infrastructure for open research, these projects support the visibility and impact of Irish research and help progress Ireland’s strategic goals for research and innovation under Impact 2030. Development of the National Open Access Monitor is one of the priority actions and the funding for management of the project was awarded to IReL. The tender requirements for the National Open Access Monitor and a definition for open access in this context were both defined following consultation with national stakeholders. The impact of the project will be to enable both point-in-time and longitudinal monitoring of the open access status of Irish research publications as part of national implementation and monitoring of open research practices.

#### NORF

Ireland’s National Open Research Forum (NORF) was established in 2017 to drive the Irish agenda for open research. NORF provides a space for communication, consultation and cooperation among key stakeholders in the research system regarding strategic issues and overarching policies and procedures in open research. NORF developed Ireland’s National Framework on the Transition to an Open Research Environment (2019) and the National Action Plan for Open Research 2022-2030.
NORF

#### IReL

IReL is the e-resource licensing consortium for Irish publicly funded higher education institutions and the lead organisation for the Irish ORCID Consortium. Since 2004, the IReL service (hosted by Maynooth University) has expanded from providing access to quality peer-reviewed online research publications and index & abstracting services, to facilitating open access publishing agreements, and managing the Irish ORCID Consortium.
IReL

#### OpenAIRE

OpenAIRE AMKE is a non-profit organization established in 2018 to create a European-wide national policy and open scholarly communication infrastructure. OpenAIRE started as a series of European Commission projects in 2010 before incorporating and has built extensive experience in both technical infrastructure and working within the Open Science community. Its mission is to establish, maintain, and operate an open and sustainable scholarly communication infrastructure and provide the necessary services, resources, and network for supporting a common European open e-research and e-science environment. OpenAIRE modus operandi includes applying and contributing to international best practices to meet the needs of the research community and promote Open Science. In particular, OpenAIRE:

- Adheres to and promotes key standards like the FAIR principles.
- Provides the OpenAIRE Guidelines for literature repositories, data archives, and Current Research Information Systems (CRIS) managers, which (a) adapt global standards and schemas from RDA, COUNTER, COAR, DataCite, etc., and (b) are adopted by organisations around the world.
- As a key partner in delivering the EOSC CORE and the EOSC Interoperability Framework, OpenAIRE ensures interoperability with the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC).
- Supports Open Access policies and advocacy.
- Provides capacity building and training for the Open Science community.

As Ireland moves towards an open research environment, this platform signifies a commitment to transparency, access, and the advancement of scientific communication. It is a crucial step in supporting Ireland's alignment with broader European and global movements towards accessible and open scientific research.
Discover more about this initiative in our Zenodo community, including related reports, presentations, and datasets.
Thank you for joining us!
OpenAIRE