Editing Institutional repository (section)

==Aggregators==
The {{ill|Confederation of Open Access Repositories|qid=Q48789578}} (COAR) states in its manifesto that "Each individual repository is of limited value for research: the real power of Open Access lies in the possibility of connecting and tying together repositories, which is why we need interoperability. In order to create a seamless layer of content through connected repositories from around the world, open access relies on interoperability, the ability for systems to communicate with each other and pass information back and forth in a usable format. Interoperability allows us to exploit today's computational power so that we can aggregate, data mine, create new tools and services, and generate new knowledge from repository content."<ref>{{cite web|title=The Case for Interoperability for Open Access Repositories|url=http://www.coar-repositories.org/files/A-Case-for-Interoperability-Final-Version.pdf|work=COAR|access-date=24 September 2013|page=2|date=July 2011}}</ref>

Interoperability is achieved in the world of institutional repositories by using protocols such as OAI-PMH. This allows search engines and [[open access]] aggregators, such as [[BASE (search engine)|BASE]], [[CORE (research service)|CORE]] and [[Unpaywall]],<ref>{{cite journal|first1=Kerry|last1=Dhakal|title=Unpaywall|journal=Journal of the Medical Library Association|date=15 April 2019|volume=107|issue=2|pages=286–288|pmc=6466485|doi=10.5195/jmla.2019.650}}</ref> to index repository metadata and content and provide value-added services on top of this content.<ref name="Knoth, P. and Zdrahal">{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1045/november2012-knoth|title = CORE: Three Access Levels to Underpin Open Access|journal = D-Lib Magazine|volume = 18|issue = 11/12|year = 2012|last1 = Knoth|first1 = Petr|last2 = Zdrahal|first2 = Zdenek|doi-access = free}}</ref>

The Digital Commons Network aggregates by discipline some 500 institutional repositories running on the [[Bepress]] [[Digital Commons]] platform. It includes more than two million full-text objects.