Open Repositories 2026 Call for Proposals
Maureen P. Walsh
Hello DCAT,
The 21st International Conference on Open Repositories (OR2026) will be held online June 8-11, 2026.
The theme for the OR2026 conference is: Open to All? Repositories at the Intersection of People, Practice, and Emerging Technologies
Exploring how repositories sustain open knowledge exchange while advancing FAIR principles, preservation, community building, and responding to the challenges and opportunities of emerging technologies.
Our last online conference, OR2021, was held with “Open for All” as the theme. As we look back over the past five years, what has changed in the broader landscape of repositories? What new challenges are open repositories facing? How are repositories responding and addressing these challenges, and what opportunities are they embracing? As we embark on a fully online conference in 2026, we ask, are open repositories Open to All?
We particularly welcome proposals aligned to the overall theme, but also on other administrative, organizational, or practical topics related to open digital repositories. We are interested in the following sub-themes:
Sustaining open knowledge exchange: How do we balance commitments to openness with long-term resilience and sustainability through our practices and partnerships?
FAIR principles: How are we ensuring that repository content is Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reuseable and how are we addressing the ability of machines to automatically find and use digital assets?
Preservation: How are financial and resource impacts addressed in our work to ensure that repositories and their digital content are preserved into the future?
Community building: How do we strengthen and continue to build an open community of practice?
Responding to challenges and opportunities of emerging technologies: New technologies have the potential to offer both opportunities and challenges to repositories and scholarly communication infrastructure. How are we taking advantage of opportunities and mitigating potential threats?
Submission categories include workshops, panels, roundtable discussions, presentations, and pre-recorded lightning talks.
Please visit the Call for Proposals page to learn more about the submission categories including a full list of submission templates that can be downloaded, recording and dissemination information for accepted proposals, and key dates. Note that all submissions must be made in ConfTool, our conference management tool.
The deadline for submissions is January 11, 2026.
Please note: This is a firm deadline for submissions and there will not be an extension.
We are thrilled about the opportunities an online conference provides and only plan to charge a small registration fee to attendees from "high income" countries to cover the online platform costs. Registration for all other attendees will be free.
Program Co-Chairs:
Joseph Kraus, Colorado School of Mines
Ianthe Sutherland, University of Edinburgh
Paul Walk, Antleaf Ltd.
Maureen P. Walsh, The Ohio State University Libraries
Contact: or26-prog...@googlegroups.com
For the Open Repositories Steering Committee:
Liz Krznarich and Ilkay Holt
Website: https://or2026.openrepositories.org/