Open Access and Institutional Repositories in Greece: progress So Far

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present the current situation regarding open access and institutional repositories (IRs) in Greece. Design/methodology/approach -- This paper reports on the development of IRs in Greece and discusses their content and the various access restrictions that apply to content. A questionnaire survey was used to identify current and future steps regarding open access from the IR managers' and library directors' perspective. Findings -- The paper finds that Greek IRs using DSpace and CDS Invenio software have been developed by libraries of academic institutions. The Berlin Declaration on open access has been signed by two academic institutions and one research institution, while another university will bring the matter to the Senate. Metadata harvesting is one point that all respondents agreed on, although it seems that a national harvesting service will not be established in the near future. Furthermore, content availability at the moment seems to be hindered by fear of copyright infringement rather than financial charges, at least for ETDs. Research limitations/implications -- Further research should be conducted in order to identify the rate of deposited published peer-reviewed research in IRs. Furthermore, a broader survey could show the thoughts and future plans of the total of Greek IRs, not just those using OAI-PMH or those with mixed content (gray literature and published research). Possible research topics could be the interoperability of IRs in order to build a national harvesting service and the access restrictions that are available for authors in each IR. Originality/value -- This paper is addressed to those wishing to be informed of the latest developments regarding IRs and open access in Greece. It also provides a brief insight into the views of leading IR managers and library directors.