Repositories are digital archives, gathering either the research output from an institution (institutional repository) or the research output from one or more scientific disciplines (subject/disciplinary repository). Digital repositories are rapidly developing at research institutions around the world.
Depositing in a repository has many benefits. Common benefits of a repository are:
- Long term and sustainable storage of your research output
- Wider dissemination of your work (not limited to journal subscribers)
- Increased potential for your publications to be cited by others
- Ability to upload associated content (datasets, video/audio files, etc.)
- Permanent URL that will not change
- Results of your research collected in one place
- Accessible from any computer at any location
Repositories also allow you to make publication and data openly available, often at no cost. Learn more about:
Repositories in Belgium
Many universities and research institutions in Belgium run an institutional or subject-based repository. At present almost all universities and major university colleges have Open Access repositories. At present OpenDOAR list all Belgian repositories. Available full-text contents include doctoral and licentiate theses, journal articles, conference papers, reports, books and book chapters.
In the World ranking of Repositories the Belgian repositories are doing well, with 3 repositories listed in the top 100 of repositories worldwide. There is no overarching open access mandate but awareness of Open Access issues has been rising steadily and 17 institutions set open access mandates.
For a full list of Belgian Repositories, see OpenDOAR. Several of these repositories are harvested in Mosa and OpenAIRE.
Open Access Belgium 
Check the BELSPO Open Science pages for more details on policy, FAQ’s, guidelines, governance, reports etc. : http://www.belspo.be/openscience
The BELSPO OA repository, Orfeo is now public : https://orfeo.kbr.be