CORE (COnnecting REpositories)

What CORE (COnnecting REpositories) does

CORE (COnnecting REpositories) is a not-for-profit open scholarly infrastructure service founded in 2011 by Petr Knoth and Zdenek Zdrahal and hosted by The Open University in Milton Keynes, United Kingdom. The organization aggregates open access research papers from repositories, journals, and publisher systems worldwide using OAI-PMH protocol for metadata indexing, operating what it describes as the world's largest collection of open access research papers at 452 million searchable papers and 32+ million full-text articles, serving 20 million monthly active users across academic institutions, companies, researchers, funders, and the general public. The platform delivers a portfolio of integrated services including the free CORE API, CORE Dataset downloads, FastSync for enterprise data replication, CORE Recommender (a semantic similarity plugin for repositories and journal systems), CORE Discovery (browser extension and repository plugin), CORE Search, Repository Dashboard, OAI Resolver, and bespoke consultancy services.

CORE's underlying technology stack combines OAI-PMH aggregation, text mining for semantic relation discovery, and Linked Data representation to enable discovery, mining, and analysis of research content. AI capabilities include the CORE-GPT question-answering platform (combining GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 with CORE's full-text corpus for evidence-based answers with citations), NLP-based citation classification, and recommendation engines. The organization publishes research through the Big Scientific Data and Text Analytics group and is community-governed under the Principles of Open Scholarly Infrastructure (POSI).

CORE's revenue model is hybrid: free access for the majority of users (API, Search, Discovery) supplemented by recurring revenue from CORE Membership subscriptions for academic institutions and professional services revenue from consultancy engagements. Strategic partnerships anchor the ecosystem, including Microsoft (multi-year funding via the Open Data campaign, 2023), Turnitin (technology integration for plagiarism detection), COAR, JISC, SPARC, and Research England. The go-to-market is API-first and self-serve, with bespoke deployments and consultancy for larger institutional and enterprise buyers.

Name

CORE (COnnecting REpositories)

Legal name

CORE (COnnecting REpositories)

Website

https://core.ac.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

CORE is a not-for-profit open scholarly infrastructure service, founded in 2011 and hosted by The Open University, aggregating the world's largest collection of 452 million open access research papers for academic institutions, companies, researchers, and funders globally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Open Scholarly Infrastructure

NAICS

Web Search Portals and All Other Information Services (51929), Web Search Portals, Libraries, Archives, and Other Information Services (519), Libraries and Archives (51921)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

OER Repositories, Discovery & Metadata Services (EDAGAJAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Open Educational Resources (OER) & Open Access Academic Publishing (MPAJABAG), Enterprise Search, Indexing & Content Discovery (HDAEAGAH)

Keywords

• Open access aggregation
• Scholarly research infrastructure
• Academic search engine
• Research metadata services
• Text and data mining

Headquarters

HQ city

Milton Keynes

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. Membership Program: CORE Membership is available for academic institutions, providing tools, technical support, compliance checking, and participation in community governance. Membership contributes to building a fairer open research ecosystem.
2. Consultancy Services: Bespoke consultancy helping organizations analyze and derive value from large amounts of research data, empowering them to understand, interpret, and build on new knowledge.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

CORE aggregates open access full-text scientific manuscripts from repositories, journals, and publisher systems worldwide using the OAI-PMH protocol for metadata indexing. It exposes the world's largest collection of open access research papers (452 million searchable papers, 32+ million full-text articles) through a free API, search engine, dataset downloads, and add-on services such as a recommender plugin and a GPT-based question-answering platform.

Product overview

CORE (COnnecting REpositories) is a not-for-profit open scholarly infrastructure that operates as a platform offering multiple integrated services. The portfolio consists of a core content aggregation platform (providing access to over 452 million papers) supported by data access products (CORE API, CORE Dataset, FastSync), content discovery services (CORE Recommender, CORE Discovery, CORE Search), and management tools (CORE Membership, Repository Dashboard, OAI Resolver, Consultancy Services). The platform serves researchers, academic institutions, companies, and funders with tools spanning raw data access, content discovery, and research management.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• CORE API A unique and free API providing real-time machine access to metadata and full texts of research papers in CORE. Recommended for companies, academic institutions, researchers, and funders.
• CORE Dataset Download all of CORE data and run processes in your own infrastructure. Used for prototyping new methods, data analysis, and text mining.
• FastSync Keep an always up-to-date copy of all CORE data in your infrastructure. Recommended for companies.
• CORE Recommender A plugin for repositories, journal systems, and web interfaces that suggests similar articles based on semantic similarity and content analysis. Recommended for repositories, publishers, and academic institutions.
• CORE Discovery Available as a browser extension and repository plugin that assists users in finding freely accessible copies of research papers. Recommended for general public, researchers, and academic institutions.
• CORE Search The search engine that researchers, scholars, and others turn to for open access papers from around the world and for staying up to date on the latest scientific literature.
• CORE Membership Membership program that contributes to building a fairer, more equitable open research ecosystem. Includes technical support, compliance checking, and participation in community governance. Recommended for academic institutions.
• Repository Dashboard An online interface providing valuable technical information and statistics for data providers and repository managers.
• OAI Resolver Service that makes OAI identifiers originating from repositories resolve directly to the repository, turning them into cost-free unique persistent identifiers for open access papers.
• Consultancy Services Helping organisations to analyse and derive value from large amounts of research data, empowering them to understand, interpret, and build on new knowledge.
• CORE-GPT A question-answering platform that combines GPT-based language models with CORE's 32+ million full-text open access scientific articles to deliver evidence-based, trustworthy answers with citations and links to cited papers.

Quantifiable outcome

• 452 million searchable research papers from around the world
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

AI capability6 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• TurnitincoreTechnology or IntegrationTurnitin partnered with CORE to provide vast amounts of metadata and full texts for use in their plagiarism detection software. CORE's comprehensive data enables Turnitin to enhance their content analysis capabilities.
• COAR (Confederation of Open Access Repositories)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCOAR and CORE collaborate on advancing open access globally. CORE has significantly assisted academic institutions in COAR's global network with scientific content exposure, and CORE helps content administrators showcase the benefits of repositories via added value services.
• JISCmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerJISC partners with CORE to support the UK academic community in maximizing the benefits of open access through technical infrastructure and services.
• SPARCmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) partners with CORE to advance open access and support the global open research community.
• Research EnglandmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch England works with CORE to help funders analyse, audit and monitor open research and accelerate towards open science. Quote from Ben Johnson, Research Policy Adviser at Research England on aggregation playing an essential role in maximizing long-term benefits of open access.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Market position

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/CORE-S
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/coreoa

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about CORE (COnnecting REpositories)