Research Article

Longitudinal characteristics of bepress Digital Commons R1 and R2 institutional repositories

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Abstract

Introduction: This study presents longitudinal findings on the size, usage, and other characteristics of institutional repositories of Carnegie R1 and R2 institutions using the Digital Commons bepress (bepress) platform.

Methods: In 2017, 2019, 2021, and 2023, a subset of bepress repositories (R1 and R2 institutions) were visited in order to gather data on number of items, downloads, journal presence, and theses and dissertations, as well as changes in the bepress customer base.

Results: During this period, the total number of R1 and R2 bepress institutions grew from 76 in 2017 to 90 in 2019, followed by declines to 86 in 2021 and 82 in 2023. From 2017 to 2023, 15 R1 or R2 institutions were observed leaving bepress, and 12 joined. These 84 institutions, on average, represented upward of 30% of all the Carnegie R1s and R2s and 17% of bepress customers.

Discussion: Results show a growing body of items within these repositories along with increased downloads. From 2017 to 2023, the bepress R1 and R2 institutions added a total of almost 1.8 million items and recorded more than 416 million downloads. The total number of items in the R1 and R2 bepress repositories was 3,061,447 in 2023. While the R1 institutions generally had more items, downloads per item were similar between R1 and R2 institutions. Theses and dissertations were downloaded at a higher rate than the rest of the items in the R1 and R2 bepress repositories. The presence of journals was found in more than 84% of the repositories, and almost all of the R1 bepress repositories.

Conclusion: The results paint a picture of potential repository needs with regard to technical scale and future growth needs, as well as provide some benchmarking data for individual repositories. The results also point toward repository needs in terms of features to support, manage, and potentially grow these collections. The observable capacity, impact, and needs of the bepress R1 and R2 repositories from 2017 to 2023 are especially relevant at a time when institutional repositories are maturing alongside ongoing conversations regarding ownership of scholarly communications infrastructure.

Keywords: repositories, scholarly communications infrastructure, impact metrics

How to Cite:

Ghaphery, J., Childs, A. & Bjork, K., (2024) “Longitudinal characteristics of bepress Digital Commons R1 and R2 institutional repositories”, Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication 12(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/jlsc.17786

Rights:

© 2024 The Author(s). License: CC BY 4.0