Canadian partners unite to strengthen open research preservation
Canada’s open scholarly infrastructure is set for closer integration following a new agreement between Coalition Publica, the Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL) and the University of Toronto Libraries, acting as service provider for Scholars Portal.
The memorandum of understanding formalises a longstanding collaboration between the organisations and represents a significant step towards strengthening Canada’s community-owned scholarly infrastructure and long-term preservation capabilities.
Under the agreement, the partners will explore greater interoperability between major scholarly communication platforms including Scholars Portal Journals, Scholaris, Borealis, the Open Journal Systems (OJS) platform and Érudit. The initiative will focus on improving metadata quality and the adoption of persistent identifiers to enhance the discoverability, accessibility and reuse of research outputs.
The collaboration will also build upon existing preservation infrastructure, including the PKP Preservation Network and the Scholars Portal Journals Trusted Digital Repository, helping to ensure long-term access to scholarly content regardless of changes in technology, platforms or business models.
The agreement reflects the continuing evolution of Coalition Publica — the partnership between the Public Knowledge Project (PKP) and Érudit — as Canada’s national, community-governed infrastructure for diamond open access publishing.
The move highlights the growing importance of nationally coordinated, community-led alternatives to commercial publishing and hosting platforms.
By combining resources and expertise, Coalition Publica, OCUL and Scholars Portal aim to improve the sustainability and visibility of critical digital research infrastructures while supporting a collective approach to preservation and perpetual access to scholarship.
The partners said the initiative would strengthen support for digital research infrastructure not only across Canada’s academic library community, but also for the wider international open research ecosystem.