(20 Aug 2026) The National Institute of Informatics (NII) in Japan has integrated metadata from its Institutional Repositories DataBase (IRDB) into OpenAlex. Consequently, this initiative makes nearly four million Japanese research outputs freely available to researchers globally.
The integration went live on 18 August 2026. It significantly enhances the international discoverability of scholarly works held across Japanese higher education repositories. As part of the Research Organization of Information and Systems, NII manages IRDB as a central infrastructure. The system aggregates research from universities and specialist research bodies throughout Japan.
The collaboration advances Japan’s strategic mandate to promote open science across its academic institutions. The initiative aligns directly with the Basic Policy on Promoting Open Access to Publicly Funded Scholarly Publications and Scientific Data. Adopted by the Cabinet Office in February 2024, this policy mandates immediate open access for publicly funded research starting from FY2025.
Furthermore, NII representatives noted that the initiative converts Japanese research into “machine-actionable knowledge assets”. This capability is critical for supporting advanced scientific analysis in the era of artificial intelligence.
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