In a move to strengthen Canada’s open scholarly infrastructure, Coalition Publica (the Public Knowledge Project (PKP) and Érudit), the Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL) and the University of Toronto Libraries, as the service provider for Scholars Portal, have jointly entered into a new agreement. This memorandum of understanding formalizes their longstanding collaboration and leverages expertise to advance the long-term preservation of open research in Canada.
The partners will explore opportunities for increased interoperability across platforms like Scholars Portal Journals, Scholaris, Borealis, Open Journal Systems (OJS), and erudit.org. These organizations will collaborate on metadata enhancements and persistent identifiers to make research more discoverable and accessible. Participants have also agreed to build upon existing storage and preservation services — including the PKP Preservation Network and the Scholars Portal Journals TDR — to ensure research remains accessible over time. Together, the partners aim to increase coordination and support for digital research infrastructure with Canada’s academic libraries and the global research community.
This consolidated agreement reflects Coalition Publica’s evolution as the national, community-governed infrastructure for diamond open access. Through the new memorandum, Coalition Publica, OCUL, and Scholars Portal will employ resources and shared expertise to improve the visibility and sustainability of critical digital infrastructures, while driving a collective approach to preservation and perpetual access to scholarship.
Looking forward, we are excited to renew and expand our longstanding collaborations through this new partnership, strengthening preservation and discovery for diamond open access research in Canada.
