Connecting Research Outputs and Subscription Information at EUI
Connecting Research Outputs and Subscription Information at EUI
Using trusted, standardised data across multiple publishers to reduce manual work and support evidence-based collection management
EUI Library at a Glance
Location: Florence, Italy
Library type: Small European Research University Library (Europe’s research university in the social sciences and humanities). The EUI is an international and intergovernmental organisation. More about the EUI Library. More about the EUI.
OA Switchboard role: Library participant
Integration system: OS Office: Cadmus, EUI Research repository (updated in 2025 to DSpace 7.6)
Primary use case: Complete metadata records of the Institutional Repository, Cadmus; Library collection building
The Challenge
As open access data sources and publisher models continue to evolve, the EUI Library needs clear insight into how its researchers’ publishing activity relates to OA business models. A key challenge is to bring together subscription data and institutional research output, including open access, to support informed collection development decisions.
Scholarly publications metadata is spread across many different sources. Ensuring that the EUI Institutional Repository, Cadmus, is accurate, complete, and up to date is the key challenge. Cadmus is the registry of all EUI research output and serves as the source for annual EUI activity reports. It offers Open Access to EUI research results, ensuring availability, retrievability, and visibility. Close to 70% of EUI 2025 outputs are available in Open Access.
While EUI authors are requested to self-archive their publications in Cadmus as Green Open Access, Gold Open Access publishing is sometimes not reported. The OA Switchboard is then a useful resource (in addition to other platforms such as Open Alex). OA Switchboard data are based on the institutional identifier associated with the author’s affiliation; publications of some former EUI members are also included when they carried out the research at EUI.
The Approach
The library uses HARRASSOWITZ for subscription management, with the collection development platform Fokus holding subscription information, including bibliographic data and historical invoice information. OA Switchboard provides current publication data from more than 40 publishers, loaded into Fokus in a standardised way. The integration of publishers’ publication data with subscription information eliminates manual work and optimises internal workflows.
EUI OS Office uses OA Switchboard to obtain metadata from the authoritative source and add records to its internal systems. Library staff periodically review OA Switchboard data and upload it into the repository. Metadata is aggregated for OA and non-OA publications and across all OA models, including APC, non-APC, and Transformative Agreements. OA Switchboard provides comprehensive, timely information, enabling complete and up-to-date repository records.
The Impact
EUI research output can now be merged with journal subscription information within a single system: HARRASSOWITZ Fokus. Fokus combines subscription data, bibliographic records, historical invoices, and metadata provided via OA Switchboard.
This allows the library to search subscribed titles and see how many articles have been published by its researchers. Subscription options, prices, licence terms, agreements, and publication output are in one place, supporting informed renewal and collection decisions.
The Institutional Repository is consistently enriched with authoritative metadata, reducing gaps across internal systems.
Decision-makers gain clearer insights into where and how researchers are publishing.
An integration of standardised, publisher-supplied metadata from the OA Switchboard allows the automatic enrichment and ingestion of repository records and reduce manual data processing. This would further strengthen monitoring of EUI publishing activity.
Key Takeaway
Trusted, standardised data across multiple publishers reduces manual work and increases efficiency, providing a reliable foundation for evidence-based collection management.