The July 2013 Web Ranking of Repositories by Webometrics is out.

As opposed to the now ‘classical’ rankings of Universities, Webometrics is ranking bibliographic repositories, whether institutional or not, based on objective and factual criteria. Hence, it provides a precise and useful rendering of how repositories are functioning.

ORBi (Open Repository and Bibliography), the Université de Liège (ULg) institutional repository, ranks 47th worldwide (out of 1.650, all categories) and has become Belgium’s first. It is 34th in size, 115th for visibility and 68th for the number of full texts.

Belgian rankings :

1) all categories, out of 1.650 :
- ORBi (ULg) : 47th, 20th European.
- LIRIAS (KULeuven) : 50th, 22nd European.
- UGIA (UGent) : 69th, 32nd European.
- DIAL (Académie Louvain: UCL, FUNDP, FUSL) : 716th, 329th European.
- DIFUSION (Académie Wallonie-Bruxelles: ULB, UMons) : 803rd, 372nd European.

2) institutional, out of 1.563 :
- ORBi (ULg) : 33rd.
- LIRIAS (KULeuven) : 37th.
- UGIA (UGent) : 52nd.
- DIAL (Académie Louvain: UCL, FUNDP, FUSL) : 656th.
- DIFUSION (Académie Wallonie-Bruxelles: ULB, UMons) : 714th.

One may wonder why there is such a gap between the repository ranking of ULg, KUL or UGent on one side and that of the other. The most likely explanation is the strength of the mandate.

Imposing firmly to University members to deposit their manuscripts in the repository of their Institution, whether in open or in restricted access, appears to be considerably more efficient than leaving a choice and simply encouraging the deposits. It is not a surprise, but the figures make the point.

As soon as an Institution takes the decision to build a repository, it is nonsense if all the scientific production of its members is not in it. Mandating it strongly is legitimate for the University which need to have a full inventory of its production. The University needs it and will take advantage of it, but the researchers as well will benefit from a larger and faster readership for their cherished work.