Alane Brunschweiger

On 4 June 2026, the CoARA Working Group "Towards Open Infrastructures for Responsible Research Assessment" (OI4RRA) brought its three endorsed outputs to the wider community, a connected set of tools to help research organisations move from closed, proprietary systems to open, community-governed infrastructure.

As artificial intelligence continues to transform the research landscape, repositories are facing new challenges created by the unprecedented increase in automated access to scholarly content. To help the community respond, OpenAIRE has launched a new Working Group on AI Bots and Repositories.

How can research systems remain open, sustainable, and community-driven in an increasingly complex publishing landscape? These are some of the questions shaping the work of Rutger de Jong, subject librarian and repository manager at Leiden University. As Leiden University joins the OpenAIRE network, he reflects on his experience with national initiatives such as the Dutch Repository Federation (DURF), the importance of digital sovereignty, and the need to strengthen open infrastructure.