Building Local Capacity to Advance Open Research: Insights from Two Years of the DataCite Global Access Fund

DataCite exists to create a world where all research outputs, resources, and activities are openly connected, easy to access, and reusable. By building open, community-driven infrastructure, DataCite supports research organizations of all sizes and across all regions in sharing and connecting their work through persistent identifiers (PIDs) and rich metadata, helping strengthen a global and inclusive research ecosystem.

At the same time, institutions in emerging research communities still face significant challenges. These include limited awareness of PIDs and open research infrastructure, a lack of local systems such as established data repositories, financial constraints, technical skill gaps, and language barriers — all of which can make it harder for communities to access and benefit from open infrastructure. These challenges highlight the need for tailored local engagement and outreach.

To help address these barriers, DataCite's Global Access Fund (GAF) was launched in 2023 with initial support from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. The GAF program provides grants to organizations across Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East to support engagement activities such as capacity-building programs, outreach materials and resources, virtual and in-person training, infrastructure development, and DOI integration in regions where PID adoption is still emerging. 

In this blog post, we wanted to share some highlights and impacts from the first two years of the GAF and discuss some future directions and opportunities as we look ahead.

Global reach: 20 organizations across 19 countries.

Regional champions: Four organizations, the African Library and Information Associations and Institutions (AfLIA), Arab Federation for Libraries and Information (AFLI), Arab States Research and Education Network (ASREN), and the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC), are driving capacity-building, infrastructure development and engagement across entire regions in Africa and the Middle East.

National foundations: Six national networks, including projects led by INFLIBNET in India, CNUDST in Tunisia and Eko-Konnect in Nigeria, are building the backbone of national repository infrastructure and supporting their country's research communities.

Institutional pioneers: Nine universities and organizations, such as Universidade de São Paulo in Brazil, Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology in Indonesia, and People and Nature Reconciliation in Vietnam are enhancing systems and institutional repositories.

Workshops and training: Awardees created outreach materials in multiple formats and delivered a range of in-person and virtual workshops, training thousands of researchers, librarians, and repository managers on PIDs, metadata best practices, and open science practices.

DOI Integration and outputs: DataCite DOIs have been registered across projects, connecting works, people, institutions, and funding information to strengthen global research visibility and reuse. Check out examples here and here.

Community impact: GAF projects supported a wide range of community-based initiatives, from building repositories for atmospheric data from the Amazon, biodiversity data in Vietnam, and heritage and artifacts in Nigeria, to enhancing national-level repositories in Tunisia and running open science capacity-building and awareness activities in Pakistan.

Voices from the Global Access Fund

Building local capacity is at the heart of advancing open science. Through targeted training, hands-on workshops, and infrastructure development, GAF has supported communities in gaining the skills and tools needed to adopt PIDs and strengthen their research ecosystems. Reflecting on his project, Pedro Luiz Pizzigatti Corrêa,  Associate Professor, Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo (EPUSP), Brazil, shared:

Fostering strong, engaged communities is essential for sustainable adoption of open science practices. By bringing together libraries, institutions, and national networks, DataCite helps build collaborative environments where knowledge is shared and impact is amplified across regions. Reflecting on her project, Dr. Nkem E. Osuigwe, Human Capacity Development & Training Director, African Library and Information Associations and Institutions (AfLIA), Ghana, said:

Access to shared infrastructure and global expertise enables organizations to scale the impact of their research. Through DataCite membership and GAF support, institutions can strengthen their technical capabilities, improve discoverability, and contribute to a more connected and sustainable research landscape. One example is the Arab States Research and Education Network (ASREN) in Jordan, a GAF awardee that is now leading a DataCite consortium. Reflecting on his project, ASREN Managing Director Yousef Torman shared:

Building impact through equity

Since the beginning of the GAF initiative, we've hosted various webinars to share inspiring stories from projects that have created value and impact in their regions. Join our next webinar on 24 June 2026 at 10:00 AM UTC to hear more stories about selected projects.

As we continue on our journey towards building more open and equitable infrastructure for research organizations, we are currently focused on rolling out our new membership model and updated fee structure to create opportunities for more organizations to benefit from DataCite services. We are also building pathways for any organization, whether a DataCite member or non-member, to contribute funds to support our shared infrastructure and global access programs—contact info@datacite.org to get involved.