Current challenges and future directions for institutional repositories: A systematic literature review. An Annual Review of Information Science and Technology (ARIST) paper

Institutional repositories (IRs) are essential in advancing Open Access and facilitating the dissemination of scholarly work. This systematic review examines the challenges faced by IRs in areas such as strategic alignment, content acquisition, funding, staffing, quality assurance, and technology. The review identifies recurring challenges. Strategic issues arise from the interaction between IRs, research organizations, and funders. Professionalization challenges encompass staffing, governance, and collaboration between libraries and IT departments. Funding continues to be a global issue, often tied to institutional resources and policy developments. Technological challenges include adapting to evolving tools while managing limited resources. Concerns related to content quality and copyright affect IR operations and researcher engagement. Usage challenges revolve around raising the awareness of researchers, understanding the role of IRs, and improving engagement through effective marketing and metrics. Key findings underscore the importance of strategic integration with institutional goals and funders' policies, professionalization and technological readiness, securing consistent funding, and addressing challenges in content acquisition, rights management, and researcher participation. This study contributes to the broader discourse on strengthening IRs as critical components of scholarly communication within the Open Science ecosystem.