To achieve full OpenAIRE compliance, OJS journals must accurately classify their content using the COAR Resource Type system.

What Is the COAR Resource Type Classification System?

In the world of open-access publishing, content is only as visible as the metadata behind it.
The COAR Resource Type Classification System — developed by the Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR) — provides a unified way to describe what kind of resource a publication really is.

Whether it’s a research article, dataset, software package, or interactive web resource, this classification ensures that repositories, harvesters, and indexing systems like OpenAIRE, Crossref, or ORCID can accurately recognize and categorize your content.

It’s not just a list of labels — it’s the universal vocabulary of academic content.

Why It Matters

• ✅ OpenAIRE Compliance: Ensures your OJS journal metadata meets European Open Science standards.
• 🌐 Global Discoverability: Makes your publications compatible with international repositories and aggregators.
• ⚙️ Consistent Metadata: Standardizes resource descriptions across OJS, DSpace, Zenodo, and other open repositories.
• 📊 Interoperability: Enables seamless exchange of records via OAI-PMH and other metadata protocols.

How It Works in OJS

The OpenAIRE plugin for OJS integrates COAR Resource Types directly into your journal’s metadata.
When activated, the plugin automatically maps each article type to a corresponding COAR category — ensuring that your repository exports valid and compliant records through the OAI-PMH interface.

This not only saves editorial time but also guarantees that your journal meets the OpenAIRE Guidelines for Literature Repository Managers (v4.0).

COAR Resource Type Categories

Below is a practical overview of the main COAR categories and what kind of materials they typically represent in research publishing.

🎨 Artistic Work

Creative outputs such as performances, exhibitions, digital art, and visual installations — often published by arts faculties or cultural repositories.

🗺️ Cartographic Material

Spatial and geographic representations.

• Map: Topographic or thematic maps used in earth sciences, geography, and urban studies.

📦 Collection

Curated groups of related content, often organized by project, author, or topic.

• Archival Collection: Historical records, correspondence, or digitized archives.
• Court Documents: Legal records or case files.

📊 Dataset

Structured data from research activities — essential for reproducibility and open science.
Examples include:

• Experimental Data: Lab results, measurements, or sensor data.
• Survey Data: Results from questionnaires or social research.
• Genomic Data: DNA sequencing and bioinformatics data.
• Simulation Data: Model outputs and computational analyses.
• Laboratory Notebook: Raw experimental notes and logs.

💡 Design

Creative and technical design outputs.

• Industrial Design: Product or engineering prototypes.
• Layout Design: Publication layouts or digital interface designs.

🖼️ Image

Visual or multimedia content.

• Still Image: Photographs, figures, illustrations.
• Video (Moving Image): Recorded lectures, animations, or documentaries.

🌐 Interactive Resource

Web-based or user-interactive materials.

• Website: Research portals, educational microsites, or project dashboards.

🧭 Knowledge Organization System

Taxonomies, ontologies, and controlled vocabularies used to organize information within repositories and research databases.

🎓 Learning Object

Educational or training materials — including e-learning modules, tutorials, and teaching resources.

💻 Software

Code and computational tools used in research.

• Research Software: Analytical or simulation software developed for scientific studies.
• Source Code: Original programming code in any language (e.g., Python, R, PHP).

📚 Text

The most comprehensive category, covering all text-based academic outputs.
Includes:

• Book / Book Part: Monographs, edited volumes, or chapters.
• Journal Article: Research, review, data, or software papers.
• Thesis: Bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral dissertations.
• Conference Output: Papers, posters, or presentations.
• Report: Technical, policy, or project deliverables.
• Preprint: Early versions of manuscripts before peer review.
• Review / Commentary / Peer Review: Evaluation or critique articles.
• Working Paper: Preliminary findings shared before formal publication.

🔊 Sound

Audio recordings, interviews, and music compositions — commonly used in ethnography, linguistics, and digital humanities.

⚙️ Workflow

Digital representations of processes, pipelines, or methodological steps.
Useful for documenting AI model training, laboratory procedures, or research automation.

Integrating COAR Resource Types in OJS

OJS users can easily implement the COAR system using the OpenAIRE plugin, ensuring:

• Automatic assignment of resource types to submissions.
• Metadata validation for OpenAIRE harvesters.
• Improved visibility of published content in global repositories.

This integration helps your journal transition from simply open access to openly connected — fully interoperable within the international research ecosystem.

Final Thoughts

The COAR Resource Type Classification System is not just a metadata list — it’s a foundation for international visibility, data interoperability, and research transparency.

For journals powered by OJS, adopting this classification through the OpenAIRE plugin means more than compliance; it means joining a global network of discoverable, machine-readable academic content.