Open Access and Academic Visibility: IEU Library Services and Activities

Guillermo & Michèle de la Dehesa Library actively promotes open science and responsible research practices through a wide range of activities and services designed to support the university community and foster a more open, transparent, and accessible research ecosystem.

A key initiative in this area is the Open Science Meet & Greet series, which creates informal, practice-oriented spaces for dialogue around open access, responsible research, and scholarly communication. These sessions encourage knowledge sharing, peer exchange, and a better understanding of how open science principles can be applied in everyday research practices across disciplines.

This work is complemented by other initiatives that support the development of open access awareness within the community. In 2025, IEU Library coordinated an event during the Open Access Week, marking an important step in promoting open access culture at IE University. In parallel, initiatives such as Open Access Fundamentals provide accessible introductions to open access publishing, copyright considerations, and the responsible dissemination of research outputs.

As a recent development, IE University’s library catalog —managed by OCLC— now includes visual indicators that help users quickly identify content classified as open access, as well as whether an article has been peer reviewed. This enhancement supports informed decision-making by making it easier to recognise openly available and academically validated research directly through the Library’s discovery tools.

Alongside these open access–focused initiatives, IEU Library also supports academic visibility through targeted training activities. This includes sessions on digital academic profiles, where researchers learn how to build and maintain a consistent academic identity aligned with open access principles. Another one was the training session on the use of Scopus for researchers, supporting rigorous academic work through responsible literature searching and the appropriate use of research indicators.

Together, these activities reflect IEU Library’s ongoing commitment to advancing open science and strengthening research practices across IE University.