On the occasion of the launch of IReL’s Executive Report 23/24, Patrick O’Donovan, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, has extended his congratulations to everyone who has been involved in building the shared service that is IReL.
This report marks the 20th anniversary of the foundation of IReL. As a shared service providing universities across Ireland with access to online information, IReL is essential infrastructure for Irish researchers and for increasing the impact of Irish research.
Highlights from the past year include:
- The launch of the National Open Access Monitor pilot by IReL, The National Open Research Forum (NORF), and OpenAIRE – a cornerstone in Ireland’s shift towards a fully open access research ecosystem.
- The further expansion of IReL membership in 2023/24 to 18 participating member institutions, now serving 220,000 of their students, staff and researchers across Ireland.
- The usage of IReL resources continuing to reach a record high, with over 24.8 million uses of IReL’s resources in 2023.
- A 16% increase in the number of open access articles support by IReL in 2023, with 93% of eligible authors opting in to avail of IReL support for OA.
- The formation of the new IReL Advisory Committee which will guide IReL through future changes, ensuring it continues to meet the evolving needs of Irish research and education.
Commenting on the report the Minister stated that:
“IReL is a great example of national level resource sharing and stakeholder collaboration delivering value for money at sectoral level. I am proud to see that 20 years on from its foundation IReL continues to deliver on its core mission of promoting equity of access to quality research information resources across the higher education sector. With the technological universities joining as new members of IReL this mission is further reinforced.
IReL has also positioned Ireland as a global leader in open access, helping to realise the vision set out in Impact2030 by making Irish research outputs freely accessible to as many people as possible.
I would like to extend my congratulations on the 20th anniversary of IReL to all involved.”
– Patrick O’Donovan, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science
The report can be viewed here: https://zenodo.org/records/14047064