Research is more accessible to all through OpenEmory’s new platform

By Maureen McGavin Oct. 20, 2025

An online repository of Emory University researchers’ work recently got a makeover with a new site that’s more accessible, easier to use and quicker to load.

OpenEmory is a digital repository where Emory researchers can deposit their published journal articles, book chapters and even entire books (as publishers’ policies allow). Users can also share unpublished scholarly works such as conference papers and posters, presentations, technical reports and working papers. OpenEmory is available for all Emory University faculty, staff (including administrators) and graduate students to upload their research publications. In some cases, the platform also is open to undergraduate students.

The new system, which launched in July, can be accessed at the OpenEmory webpage. The term “open” in this case refers to research that is published, shared and reused without cost to the researcher or user.

Anyone with a valid Emory NetID and password can self-submit their scholarly work to OpenEmory, says Jody Bailey, head of the Scholarly Communications Office at Emory Libraries. Bailey and her team also help upload many of the articles.

“Part of Emory Libraries’ mission is to ‘preserve and promote our intellectual and cultural heritage,’ and the new OpenEmory allows us to fulfill that promise,” says Bailey.

The platform is open to the public, with no login required. Contents are accessible to any researcher who wants to study or use the research of others for their work, and anyone who is interested simply in learning about scholarly research in medicine, life sciences, technology, immunology, humanities, public and environmental health, and more.

Benefits of the new repository

“The value of the new repository is twofold,” says Bailey. “It allows Emory Libraries to continue to archive and preserve Emory research so that it’s always available for future audiences. People often think that if something is published digitally, it’ll be around forever, but that’s not necessarily the case. Publishers and journals come and go all the time, so if you as a researcher are depending on them to ensure that your work will always be made available to future audiences, you may be disappointed.”

Second, according to Bailey, “It is much more stable and reliable than the legacy repository [older version of OpenEmory], which, in the past couple of years, would sometimes load very slowly or would go down entirely. The new repository has a more intuitive, modern user interface and runs much faster.”

“This is a brand new, built-from-scratch repository with over 34,000 works in it that are the product of Emory research,” says Bailey.

The new OpenEmory operates on Samvera Hyrax open-source software and was built entirely by the Libraries and Museum Technologies and Digital Strategies (LTDS) division, which will maintain and provide technical support for the platform moving forward. Scholarly Communications staff will provide user support and mediated deposit services (i.e., staff will deposit scholarly works on behalf of authors).

“Our LTDS colleagues worked tirelessly behind the scenes on the development of the new repository for the past year, so I want to publicly acknowledge and applaud their efforts,” says Bailey.

Most of the research shared in the repository is about science and medicine, but humanities entries are increasing and encouraged, she says.

The repository was started in 2012 as a result of Emory’s Open Access Policy approved by the Emory Faculty Council in 2011. Associate Vice Provost and University Librarian Lisa Macklin, who was then the director of the Scholarly Communications Office, played a key role in those efforts. OpenEmory initially collected only journal articles by Emory faculty; it expanded in 2016 to accept broader types of works, such as book chapters and conference papers.

In 2023, the types of accepted works were expanded again by opening the repository to all Emory researchers, including staff and students. It continues to house only scholarly works.

“I am excited that the Libraries can provide an updated OpenEmory for our faculty, staff and students to share their scholarship widely and provide greater reach and visibility,” says Macklin. “This service of Emory Libraries enables the mission of Emory University to create, preserve and disseminate knowledge in the service of humanity. Everyone is invited to explore the thousands of works of scholarship authored by members of the Emory community.”

For more information about the new OpenEmory repository, contact Jody Bailey at jody.bailey@emory.edu or the Scholarly Communications Office at scholcomm@listerv.cc.emory.edu.

OpenEmory by the numbers

As of Sept. 30, 2025, OpenEmory had 34,459 items, consisting of:

34,182 journal articles
109 conference papers
47 book chapters
40 posters
34 books
30 presentations
17 reports

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Benefits of the new repository

OpenEmory by the numbers

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