Qatar’s research extends its global reach with Figshare-powered repository
Researchers and institutions in Qatar are now directly sharing their outputs with the world thanks to Manara, the research repository by Qatar National Library.
Powered by Figshare, a leading provider of institutional repository infrastructure that supports open research, Manara was launched in 2022 to serve as a digital archive of Qatar’s research.
Leveraging the platform, Qatar National Library aims to ensure the long-term preservation of the nation’s knowledge and its dissemination to the rest of the world.
As of the start of Open Access Week 2024, Manara has become home to more than 6,300 research outputs from 25 institutions, serving over 106,000 downloads and 174,000 views across 149 countries worldwide – predominantly from the United States, Qatar, and several European countries – highlighting the international impact of the project.
The platform continues to grow, with two prominent Qatar-based research institutions recently signing up to share their outputs and make Manara their institutional repository, namely the University of Doha for Science and Technology (UDST) and Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU).
The repository incorporates traditional research outputs – such as articles and monographs – as well as non-traditional outputs – such as datasets, conference proceedings, posters and presentations, and multimedia galleries. The team at QNL is also leveraging Manara’s functionality to further support Green Open Access initiatives, with the publication of preprints in the repository.
Marcin Werla, Director of Digital Collections at Qatar National Library, said Manara contributes a great deal to the Library’s mission to preserve Qatar’s research outputs for future generations, and to share that knowledge with the world. “Interest in Manara has been steadily growing since the platform’s launch two years ago, as evidenced by our expanding partnerships and increased global visibility,” Mr Werla said.
Mark Hahnel, Figshare Founder and Digital Science’s VP, Open Research, said: “It’s incredibly pleasing to see Qatar National Library becoming a champion of open research both locally and within the region. It’s my hope that QNL’s infrastructure solution, in the form of Manara, could inspire other institutions within Qatar to join, as two others already have, as well as inspiring other countries in the region to follow the same path. It’s critically important that local knowledge is preserved and shared for the benefit of society, and that’s exactly what we’re seeing with the growing number of outputs and the growing visibility for those outputs on Manara. Qatar has an even brighter open research future ahead, with the opportunity for green OA initiatives and the publication of preprints in the repository.”