Confederation of Open Access Repositories

COAR is an international association with over 140 members and partners from around the world representing libraries, universities, research institutions, government funders and others. It brings together individual repositories and repository networks in order to build capacity, align policies and practices, and act as a global voice for the repository community. COAR evolved out of a project to connect European repositories called DRIVER. The COAR e.V. was founded in September 2009 with 28 members. In 2023, the Stichting COAR (Foundation) was established to continue the aims of the COAR e.V. in 2025.

COAR evolved out of a project to connect European repositories called DRIVER. This project revealed the need for a more international approach that would support the networking of all repositories from around the world. The COAR e.V. was founded in September 2009 with 28 members. In 2023, the Stichting COAR (Foundation) was established to continue the aims of the COAR e.V. in 2025.

A sustainable, inclusive, and trusted global knowledge commons based on a network of open access digital repositories.

1. 1COAR – Building a sustainable, global knowledge commonscoar-repositories.org
2. 2Who we are – COARcoar-repositories.org